Friday, March 19, 2010

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

chocolate hazelnut spread2

I grew up on Nutella and pain brioché (a rich and buttery bread popular in France). My family could empty a jar at light-speed, no problem. Once looked at as a gourmet product, it is now everywhere: on the shelves of Costco and at your local grocery store.  These days I prefer to make my own concoction.  I favor flavor over sugar and I like my own palette of ingredients much better than what you get in the store-bought kind.

chocolate hazelnut spread apple

My kids loved this creation.  My husband agreed that it was really good but he would have liked it better sweeter--he was outnumbered.  The good thing about making it at home is that you can adjust the sweetness according to your taste.  It always turns out just right!


I am about to enter a week of finals and I know that this spread will get me through the long hours of studying--just like Nutella used to do all those years ago.  Only this spread is healthier!
 
 

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chocolate hazelnut spread1

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread                       
I used both a food processor and a blender for this recipe.My blender could not handle the hazelnuts at the beginning and then I switched to the blender to make the spread smoother. If you don't mind a chunkier spread you can make it entirely in the food processor.  Or if your blender is powerful enough to handle it, you can make it entirely in the blender.

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts
2 tbsp roasted hazelnut oil
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp cocoa powdered, unsweetened or more to taste
2 1/2 tbsp evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1 tsp GF vanilla extract
1 tsp agave nectar or honey (optional)

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process for five minutes, scraping the sides as needed. Transfer to a blender to obtain a smoother paste.  Taste and adjust the sweetness to your liking.  Transfer to a jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator.


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10 comments:

citronetvanille said...

Hmmm that is so tempting, being a nutella fan, I can be a fan of your spread too!

GF Gidget said...

Brilliant! It reminds me of France!

pTsaldari said...

Alexa,
I'm so glad I stopped by again, I was overdue for a visit to your blog. The Nutella is very popular throughout Europe, my cupboard was never without it during our 17 years in Greece. My children loved it.
Wonderful read, as always most inviting.
Cheers,
Penelopi,
http://ptsaldari.posterous.com

Clueless said...

I am a fun of Nutela. And I was tempted to try and do this until I saw the ingredients. :D A couple of them, I think it will be extremely hard to find in Cyprus.
Will search though.
Thank you for this.

Alexa said...

Thank you CitronVanille!

GF Gidget,
Nutella Crepes in Paris perhaps? :-)

Penelopi,
I am so glad you stopped by again.

Clueless,
Can I help you substitute the ingredients that you cannot find in Cyprus? Let me know.

Clueless said...

To start with I don't cook (I am starting lately to do attempts), so propably I just didn't notice up to know these ingredients but as I said I will check to make sure. :D
Roasted hazelnut oil (which I will try to find if we have it with another name)
I know we can find coconut milk so I assume we can find cooconut oil as well.
And I was about to google agave nectar to see what it is exactly.
But overall thank you very much fo trying to help.

Alexa said...

Hi again Clueless,

You definitely can substitute a different nut oil instead of both the hazelnut oil and coconut oil (in case you can't find it).
Agave nectar is kind of like honey or a very mild tasting maple syrup. Here's an old post of mine about it:
Agave Nectar.

All the best,
Alexa

kat said...

I never thought about making it at home, make so much sense!

amy said...

sophie from flour arrangements listed your blog in her interview today on my blog http://www.iamaceliac.blogspot.com/ and I am so glad she did! Your blog is wonderful! Let me know if you want to be part of my interview series! I will email my questions. my email is: iamaceliac@yahoo.com

amy :)

Valen said...

Mmmm this looks delicious!

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