Homemade Nutella!

raw hazelnuts

Yes, I actually made nutella this week. Impressive non? Now when I first found this recipe I was super excited. But I do have to add this disclaimer, this particular recipe is not an exact nutella duplicate. The flavour is more bitter, I think this has a lot to do with type of cocoa I used and the lack of dairy in the recipe. It is also a lot thicker in texture, again this could be dependent on the power behind my blender.

I do prefer the 'real' nutella, but I'm the kind of person that prefers milk chocolate over dark, so that explains that.

So with this in mind, homemade nutella:

What you need:

• 1 cup of hazelnuts
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa
• 6 tablespoons of maple syrup (I used pancake syrup as it was what I had)
• 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract

The first step is to roast the hazelnuts, do this for about ten minutes in an oven at 350˚F. Once roasted transfer to a paper towel and let cool for ten minutes.

roasted hazelnuts

After the hazelnuts have cooled down, it's time to remove the skins, to loosen them up get another paper towel (you can use a dishcloth) and rub the skins loose. Pick off any remaining skin. Not all the skins will come off.

naked hazelnuts

Once the skins are removed pop them in the blender and blend until you have a thick butter. Depending on the speed and power of your blender this process can take a really really long time. I tried but I was either impatient or it was just never going to happen. So mine didn't end up as buttery as I believe it's supposed to be.

At this point add your other ingredients and blend until smooth.

almost nutella

The above picture is what it looked like during the process. At this point I did taste test it and found it to be too bitter for my tastes and added a little more syrup and a little more cocoa, but this time I used Nestle Toll house Cocoa as opposed to the premium ghirardelli cocoa I had used previously. This improved the flavour. I then blended some more.

nutella!

Spoon into a jar and eat up! I got this recipe (and doubled it) from the Steph Chows blog here, I do have another recipe for nutella that is a little more complicated that I will try when this jar is all eaten up so stay tuned!

nutella in a jar