Homemade Nutella

I know, I know, the thought of trying to replicate the culinary icon that is Nutella may be blasphemous to some. For what it’s worth, it gave me yet another reason why I love my food processor more than my stand mixer.

And it only takes 5 minutes to make — a lot quicker than running to the store.

I really love Nutella. I love Nutella more than I love bacon. (Whoa. I know.) I’m seriously lacking in Nutella recipes, but for a good reason. I don’t like to dilute it. I’d much rather dunk some pretzels in it (or eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon) than to add a bunch of stuff to it or bake with it.

You’re probably wondering if this really tastes like Nutella. Well… kind of. I wouldn’t say it’s better or worse than Nutella, just different. It’s like a darker, richer, coarser version of Nutella that sits better in my stomach. You know what else I like about this recipe? It’s mostly made of nuts. If you look at Nutella’s ingredient list, the first ingredients are sugar, then oil, then chocolate & nuts.

The homemade version is mostly nuts and the amount of sweetener is entirely up to you. The original recipe suggested using agave nectar, but I’m still on the fence with that one. As heavily processed as agave nectar is, I’m still not convinced of its virtues. It’s probably better than white sugar — I’ll give it that much. Better to go with raw honey, though.

Will this replace Nutella in my house for the rest of my life? Probably not, but it might hold me over a bit longer between jars. And I’ll feel a smidgen better about eating a whole cup of it.

Try it out! I’m curious to know what you think!

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Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Homemade Nutella)

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This rich, homemade Nutella is a healthier version than store-bought, and you can control how sweet it is!

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Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup good-quality, unsweetened cocoa (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon hazelnut oil or a neutral-tasting oil like avocado oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients into the mixing bowl of a food processor and pulse until it begins to break down.
2. Process for about a minute until it's relatively smooth. (It won't be as smooth as Nutella.) If you have a hard time getting it mixed, try adding a teaspoon or two of water to get things going.
3. Taste and adjust sweetener to your liking. For mine, I used 1/4 cup plus 1 T of sweetener.  

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