Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Spread (aka Nutella)

If you can’t win them, join them. If brat junior is going to eat sweet chocolate spread, then the least I can do is make sure it’s dark and not overly sweet. I have tried a few different recipes, including some using condensed milk (too sweet) and others using some other form of dairy (short shelf life). My favourite is the one from America’s Test Kitchen. Re-engineering favourites is their area of expertise, and this is a winner.

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Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Spread (aka Nutella)
Here’s the recipe with just a few minor changes. The quality of the cocoa powder is key to the chocolate flavour of the spread. I have tried both Valrhona and Green & Black’s (more easily available in the UK), and both give good results. If you happen to buy hazelnuts with the skin on, see notes below on how to deal with the skin. This spread is not as smooth as the original Nutella, because there is very little added fat. In France, we recently bought a bottle of a delicious version of this spread make with a combination of hazelnuts and pistachios. Substitute half the hazelnuts for pistachios and follow the same recipe.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Prep Time 10 min
Cook Time 15 min
Servings
ml
Ingredients
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Prep Time 10 min
Cook Time 15 min
Servings
ml
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 190C or 170C fan. Place hazelnuts in single layer on a baking tray and roast until fragrant and golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
  2. Process hazelnuts in a food processor until the oil starts getting released and a smooth, loose paste forms, about 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl often. (I sometimes use my trusty Indian grinder as it makes for a finer paste, but a food processor is fine too; but will produce a coarser result).
  3. Add sugar, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla, and salt and process until fully incorporated and mixture begins to loosen slightly and becomes glossy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
  4. Transfer spread to jar with tight-fitting lid. The spread can be stored at cool room temperature for a month. If the oil settles at the top, just stir it back in before using.
  5. Apart from toast, the kids love to eat it with homemade vanilla bean ice-cream. Decadent!
Recipe Notes

If you buy hazelnuts with the skin on, the best way to skin them is to blanch them in water with some added baking soda. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the hazelnuts and 6 tablespoons baking soda and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and pop the nuts into an ice bath to cool quickly. Once cool, drain and rub the skins off with a dish towel.

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5 Replies to “Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Spread (aka Nutella)”

  1. This is easy and yum! Thanks for the recipe.

    I’ve banned Nutella for the kids lately due to their overdosing on it and after reading reports of Ferrero using child slave labour on cocoa farms.
    Now home made with fair trade cocoa solves the second problem but it’s so yummy the overdosing is going to start again (I type as I lick the scrapings off the blender jar).

    Question: I used coarse ground blanched peeled hazelnut meal to make things easier on my ageing blender. But hardly any oil came from it so I had to add way more oil than the recipe to save the blades from getting jammed. I pan toasted and cooled the nut meal before I began.
    What am I doing wrong?

    1. Hi Rajee, the variety of the hazelnuts you are using can make a big difference. For e.g. I make peanut butter at home, and the larger pink peanuts are less oily and not so good to make peanut butter. Also to release the oil from the nuts, warmth is good. So next time try to grind the nut powder when it is still warm. It’s possible that they nuts are treated in some manner before they are ground. Worse case, you add a little extra oil, preferably a nut oil and the result should still be way better than the bottled stuff. I will try a batch with hazelnut powder (I have some that I recently bought) and report back to you!

  2. Hi Rajee, I tried making the Nutella today with some French Hazelnut powder. It was a little drier, but I processed it for a good 7-8 minutes and it did become a thick paste. Can email you the photos if you drop me a line. Overall I did end up using about 1 tablespoon extra of the hazelnut oil. Hope this helps!

  3. My daughters have always relished Nutella but earlier this year, after reading about the study on the cancer risks of palm oil, they gave it up reluctantly. Your recipe could not have been more timely… and it is finger-licking good too! The freshness is unbeatable. Thanks for this recipe Gauri

    1. That’s great to hear, and I do recall that both your girls were very fond of cooking… Hope this will encourage them to persist! At the risk of sounding pedantic, one of the best life skills you can teach your children..to eat well!

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