This hazelnut–cocoa spread, aka homemade Nutella, like many other homemade foods, requires more work to make than pulling something off a store shelf and tossing it into your shopping cart. But once you taste homemade, you can never go back. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Not only does the homemade version taste better, it contains high-quality ingredients. Sugar is the first ingredient in Nutella. Palm oil, the second. Nutella also contains vanillin, an artificial flavor. At least you can rest assured that vanillin rarely comes from the anal glands of beavers these days, to the relief of vegans. Well, okay, to the relief of everyone.
Living the sheltered life that I do, I didn’t realize that Nutella contains palm oil. That’s still in there? If you want to learn more about why palm oil has earned a deservedly horrible reputation, read this long article, “How the world got hooked on palm oil” from The Guardian.
Ferrero, the company that manufactures Nutella, posts its corporate social responsibility report online, which I imagine explains how it continues to address the palm oil problem in its supply chain. I don’t know because I speak only English and a bit of French. I could spend my precious time running the Italian-language document through ho-hum Google Translate and then read the resulting garbled English or I could spend my time making something that tastes much better than Nutella—sans (I did say a bit of French) plastic jar and large plastic lid to boot.
No one should have to work this hard to find out what corporations put into their food-like substances. Fortunately, you have a much easier strategy to avoid eating palm oil:
Avoid buying food with labels.
Food with labels usually contains dubious ingredients you would not stock in your pantry. Whole foods have no labels listing ingredients because they are ingredients.
All In the Family
My daughter MK first made homemade Nutella for her blog, The Plastic-Free Chef, several years ago. My younger daughter Charlotte tweaked MK’s recipe a bit for this post. MK sweetened hers with powdered sugar. Charlotte used honey. Both taste amazing.
A few people have told me that the honey turns their homemade Nutella into a clump so I’ve updated this recipe to call for powdered sugar or dates rather than honey.
Hazelnut–Cocoa Spread (Homemade Nutella)
Yields approximately 1 ¾ cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnuts
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons powdered sugar OR 4 to 5 pitted dates
- 2 to 4 tablespoons coconut oil to reach desired consistency
Directions
1. Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast at 400°F for 5 to 10 minutes or until the skins begin to crack. Toasting brings out the flavor. Do not skip this step!
2. After the nuts have cooled enough to handle, place them in a towel. Cover them up and rub them around inside the towel to remove the skins. Don’t worry if you can’t get all of the skins off.
3. Run the nuts in a food processor until they become creamy hazelnut butter. This can take up to 10 minutes. Be patient.
4. Add the cocoa, salt and vanilla and process until combined.
5. Slowly add powdered sugar to taste and process until combined. UPDATE 12/02/20: I used to put honey in this but people have told me the honey causes their homemade Nutella to lump up, so I’ve changed the sweetener to powdered sugar. Dates also taste delicious.
6. Add the coconut oil, a tablespoon or so at a time, and process. Continue until the homemade Nutella has reached your desired consistency. Charlotte kept this batch quite thick. If you prefer it runnier, add more oil.
7. The oil will naturally separate when you store this. Stir it up before eating. Like other nut butters, if you eat this as quickly as we do, you don’t need to store it in the refrigerator. Natural nut butters will keep well at room temperature for several weeks. If you eat it slowly, keep it in the refrigerator.
