“Nutella” (Choc. Hazelnut Butter)

Posted by on Nov 27, 2011 | 2 comments

2 cups hazelnuts, roasted & skinned
2 TBSP cacao (or cocoa) powder
1 to 2 TBSP natural sugar (or 6 – 12 drops liquid stevia)

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Roast hazelnuts for 10 – 15 minutes (until skins split).
  • Remove from oven and wrap in a clean kitchen towel.
  • Rub the nuts together in the towel until the skins flake off.
  • Add the nuts to a food processor or Vitamix blender and process until you get creamy butter.
  • Add the cacao and sugar and process again until combined.

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SIDE NOTES:

~ To be honest, I’ve never actually tasted “Nutella“, but I kind of liked the idea of it. As you can see, the spread I’ve made is mostly hazelnuts with a little scoop of chocolate and a hint of sugar. Store bought Nutella is mostly sugar – 55%, and only 13% hazelnuts (the rest is mostly vegetable oil & chocolate with a little skim milk powder and vanilla “flavor”). So as far as I can tell, it’s more like a chocolate-y sugar spread as opposed to a nut butter. So, I can’t promise my version tastes anything like real Nutella, but I can say for sure that it’s very tasty.

~ I recommend starting with 1 TBSP sugar, tasting, and adding more only if needed. We tend to want something like this with fruit which is usually sweet enough in its own right. So for me, 1 TBSP was just right, but the kids liked it a bit sweeter.

 For those avoiding certain foods, this recipe falls into the following categories:

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Egg Free, Nut Free, Sugar Free, Vegan, Grain Free, Raw

If avoiding sugar, try using 6 – 12 drops of liquid stevia instead of sugar.

~ If you can get good quality hazelnuts already peeled, it will make this recipe a total breeze. In this case, just warm the pre-skinned hazelnuts a bit (until they’re just warm to the touch) and proceed with adding them to the blender.

~ This takes roughly 2 minutes to blend in my Vitamix. You should be able to use a food processor but it will take longer to turn the nuts into butter. If anyone tries this with a food processor, please comment to verify that it does indeed work in that type of machine. If anyone’s interested, my Vitamix distributor code is 06-004158 which gives the buyer free shipping and I get credit for the referral (thx!).

~ The longer you blend the hazelnuts, the thinner & creamier the butter will get (I didn’t blend it very long so it was thicker – the way I like it).

~ Try this chocolatey-nut-butter with bananas, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, apples – really, any fruit you’ve got! It can also be spread on bread and topped with sliced bananas (or other fruit/jam) for a yummy sandwich.

~ A little jar of this spread makes a very thoughtful holiday gift (don’t forget to include the bananas!).

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PHOTO INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ROAST & SKIN THE HAZELNUTS……

Place them on a cookie sheet and roast at 350 for approx 10 – 15 mins.

Remove from oven when most of the hazelnut skins have split.

Transfer to clean cloth or kitchen towel and rub the nuts vigorously in the cloth until the papery skins slip off. If the skins aren’t coming off, put them back in the oven for another 5 or so minutes. They won’t all slip off easily. You’ll have to nudge some of them with your fingers.

Once they’re skinned, put them in the blender & proceed with recipe.


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  • Heather

    I just made some of this hazelnut spread and it’s good. How do you store it and how long does it last for?

    • Hi Heather, Sorry for the lag – busy day yesterday!

      I’m glad you like the hazelnut butter. Store it in a covered container in the fridge. It should last as long as any other nut butter. That said, fresh nut butters are best made in relatively small batches so they don’t sit around too long (will begin to oxidize as time goes on).

      Personally, we usually use ours up within a week (though often it’s gone within just a few days). Once in a while it takes us 2 weeks to finish up (kind of depends on the number eaters – with a few kids around, it gets used up faster).

      My husband, on the other hand, has no problem dipping into an old jar of nut butter that got pushed to the back corner of the fridge & forgotten about for a month or more. It’s really just up to each person’s standards for freshness. The fresher it is, the more tasty and nutritious it will be.

      Enjoy!