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Homemade Vegan Nutella (Hazelnut-Chocolate Spread)
December 22, 2009 |
‘I’m horrified,’ he begins slowly ‘after reading a press release from a hotel in Scotland that went public in announcing the fact that they’re doing a deep-fried sandwich full of Nutella. I mean, Christ! Seventy-five per cent of my staff are French. They look at me like I’m some sort of twat that my Scottish brothers are launching two slices of bread with a fucking inch of Nutella between them, battered and deep fat fried. Now what the fuck is this country coming to? What are we doing to ourselves? ~ Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay is horrified at what some snooty French person will think of a deep-fried Nutella sandwich. Gordon Ramsay is a deeply disillusioned man. What else can I say?
We had a Nutella sandwich for breakfast. Next time, I may deep-fry it, just to horrify the French and piss Gordon Ramsay off. You gotta make the Nutella first, though, ‘cos the one in the store is not vegan. Plus, it’s loaded with sugar and fat of the not-so-good variety.
They claim that each 13 oz jar of store-bought Nutella has 50 hazelnuts. What else does it contain?
The Nutella jar sold in the U.S. has sugar and modified palm oil as the first two ingredients, followed by hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (from milk), soy lecithin: an emulsifier, vanillin: an artificial flavor.
This recipe is adaptable based on how dark you like your chocolate and how sweet you like your Nutella. I like it less sweet than the store-bought and less “milky”, but not completely dark either.
STATUTORY WARNING
This recipe is likely to
1. Make you never want to encounter a hazelnut again.
If you buy hazelnuts with the skin on, you need to peel them. It’s a royal pain in the ass. Buy skinned hazelnuts. If you can’t find them, use skinned almonds. Else, recruit someone, anyone - the salesman who rings your doorbell - to peel them. “Here, peel these while I go through your pest control brochure”.
What have you got to lose? If he refuses, at least he won’t ring your doorbell again. If your spouse refuses to peel those hazelnuts, s/he can go buy his/her own darn Nutella.
2. Make your blender explode.
Look carefully at the pictures. The Nutella is just a tad grainy. I had to stop blending when it almost ruined both my blenders.
My monster Vitamix first growled and went into Auto Shutoff mode. I transferred it into my Preethi Indian blender. Preethi went ballistic. I had two choices - dilute the mixture with more oil/soymilk (which would make it runny) or just stop torturing Preethi. It didn’t affect the taste a bit.
I know exactly what went wrong. I didn’t let the hazelnuts cool completely and that prevented them from getting to a fine powder. If you don’t follow the instructions carefully, you will get grainy Nutella and/or you will be wearing it when your blender detonates.
3. Make your ass explode.
Unless you want to buy new jumbo-size underwear, freeze half so that you can’t just shovel it into your mouth when you feel like it.
VEGAN NUTELLA
(Makes 3.5 cups)
I. HAZELNUTS/FILBERTS
Get 12 oz. (about 2.5 cups) skinned hazelnuts and roast them in a 375 F oven for about 10 minutes until they are toasted and aromatic. Else, use skinned almonds.
If you are a masochist and get them with the skins on, toast them until the skins turn a couple of shades darker and papery (10-12 minutes). Then when they are still warm, rub them between a towel to get the skins off. I got about 70% of the skins off. That’s fine.
You can leave the skins on, but they make the end product bitter. I did it in two stages. I baked them first, took some skins off, then put the rest back in for four minutes and did it again. Crushing them with a pestle helps loosen the skins.
THEN, LET THE HAZELNUTS COOL COMPLETELY. This is important, else they will not blend as fine as they should. Let them sit for a couple of hours or overnight.
In a food processor, pulse and blend them until they are a fine powder. They will start releasing their oils and come together like moist sand.
KEEP BLENDING UNTIL YOU REACH THIS STAGE. If you stop short of this stage, you will need a lot more oil and you will not get a smooth end result.
II. THE OTHER DRY INGREDIENTS
I used coconut milk powder to make it creamy. You can leave it out or use organic milk powder.
If you use coconut milk/organic milk/soymilk, you will get the desired creaminess, but your end product may be too runny and the shelf-life gets shortened considerably.
3 tbsp coconut milk powder
4 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
Add these to the hazelnut flour.
III. THE WET INGREDIENTS
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp coffee liqueur like Tia Maria or Kahlua (this is optional)
3/4 to 1-1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)
**I used 3/4 cup. The idea behind using maple syrup is that besides the excellent flavour, it provides some liquid which means you need less oil for blending. Depending on how much moisture your hazelnuts contain, you may not need to add oil at all.
If you don’t have maple syrup, use honey or just organic powdered sugar/dry sweetener of choice. Then, use oil for blending.
Start with 1/4 cup maple syrup. Blend the hazelnut mixture and keep adding enough maple syrup until you reach the desired consistency. If it does and it is not sweet enough, add a dry sweetener like powdered sugar.
If you add all the maple syrup and it still isn’t smooth and spreadable, add
1 tbsp oil at a time, until you get the desired consistency.
I used extra-virgin coconut oil (the type you get in the health food store, not the refined version you get in the Indian store).
If your blender threatens to explode, try adding 1 tbsp soymilk, but this will reduce the shelf-life of your Nutella.
BLISS =
Nutella + Spoon
Nutella + Grilled Bananas + Toast
This is our entry for Sugar High Fridays: Holiday Edition hosted by Nicisime @ Cherrapeno.
- bee
Chocolate, cocoa, Coconut, coconut milk powder, coconut oil, Hazelnut/Filbert, maple-syrup, Nutella, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes
DROOOOOOOL…. I avoid buying nutella at stores just because of its fat content and all the other unhealthy ingredients . This is a must recipe in our kitchen. Will definitely try it out.. Thks.
I stopped buying nutella when I learned about the hydrogenated/ modified palm oil used to make it. I’m so making this, but I need to buy hazelnuts first. I can’t wait to slather it on a crepe and add sliced strawberries and banana, and gobble it up. Any idea if almond flour would work?
don’t use almond flour. get skinned almonds ‘cos you need to toast them. peanuts would work too.
Very cool to be able to make one’s own Nutella.
Paz
question: did you make that bread too?
it’s from zeppole.
http://www.zeppolebakery.com/
I’m not really a fan of nutella… but I’m wondering if there’s any way to spice this up, instead of the sugar.
It’s brilliant how you came up with this vegan version. I was just looking at the coconut milk powder at the health food store and wondered what I could do with it.
i love hazel nuts.. but they are precious in these parts of the world… plus am not such a nut butter person… actually i am not “any kind of butter person” coming to think of it… i do like the colours and textures of this nutella tho…and i personally prefer grainy to industrial smooth… i was rotfl on the jumbo undies and you will be wearing the nutella when your blender detonates bits!!
Hey! Awesome and funny post! I have been following your posts for a year, and have never missed even one! Sometimes I re read some of them. I have never tried any recipies though, as its difficult to get any of it in Bangalore, but will definitely try this recipe with Almonds!
Your Meat-Eating Die Hard Reader.
That looks like a labour of love, and a great idea to come up with a vegan version.
Thank you so much for your SHF entry!
Happy Holidays J&B. Have a wonderful year ahead
You are too funny! I can’t believe that this challenged even the mighty VitaMix! But it does look heavenly.
Hope you both have a wonderful holiday!
Nutella is Love.
Happy Holidays and Great New Year to you dear Jai and Bee.
My!! that looks fantastically delicious!
I was dreaming to make it but am sure will not get hazlenuts here. Almonds look like a good option. Can this recipe be scaled down? I want to try a small batch to check my family’s consumption. Am sure my kids would lick it off clean but…just wondering…Bee, u’re killing me with so many shots of the nutella slathered bread slices. I think none of your recipe posts had these many shots. Shows u’re nutella love
Your Nutella on my banana bread would be a match made in heaven. I am going to avoid making this though because I am afraid I’d keep tasting it “just to make sure” until I exploded. I think I’d die happy anyway…..
I stopped buying Nutella for 2 reaons.
1. I ate it continuously. Like say, every hour. (I’m lying here, anyway!)
2. Ya, I heard about the bad fats.
However, now I’ve replaced my Nutella with peanut butter. I’m quite sceptical of coconut cream/oil in this recipe. Not coz it may not be good, but because I’m not a fan of coconut. But, the thought of nutella is going to haunt me and I might just try this!
Fun post and wonderful vegan nutella. Wish a Happy Holidays!
Now you make me want to love chocolate!
Happy Holidays!
Nice, bottle it and sell it!
You know…you could- not that you would, buy ready-made hazel-nut butter and then mix in the other ingredients. I’ve made my own almond butter starting from skin-on almonds that I soaked, removed the skins, roasted stove-top, cooled and hammered to a paste. It is not a task to be undertaken lightly. If I also had to crack/shell all of those nuts I would be by the time I was through!
Kudos to you for this!
I used to LOVE nutella till I came to the US. American Nutella is too sweet and greasy. So, I started experimenting with hazelnuts and chocolate but gave up because it was too time consuming. I finally figured out a quick way to make nutella at home a few weeks ago. Just buy a jar of organic hazelnut butter, add good quality cocoa, evaporated milk, sugar, a hint of vanilla and pulse it in a blender with just enough oil to bind it all together. Ta dah! Nutella in 5 min.
Try it, it’s awesome!
Happy holidays!
Bee, I tried this recipe just now, and although the texture is grainy(my FP couldn’t take the load), it tastes fabulous.
Its good bye to store bought Nutella for me! Thanks for sharing
Absolutely hilarious post, & a very droolworthy 3.5cups in the end. Now to find some hazelnuts! Have you tried the almond version yet?
Have a wonderful 2010 Bee and Jai! Happy New Year!!
Ha ha! I made nutella parathas just this morning just like Jr.P wanted! I was planning a vegan version but with walnuts or almonds and chocolate as we don’t get hazelnuts here. This recipe is going to come in handy - thanks!
Just a thought: You could use coconut oil (melted in the microwave if your kitchen is cool). This will add liquid to the blender, but if your spread is cool room temperature or cooler it will help solidify your spread. Might not work well in the heat of the summer unless you refrigerate it. Likewise, if you’re adding maple syrup, warm it slightly to help make it more liquid.
[...] Home-Made Vegan Nutella [...]
[...] Vegan Nutella with Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil [...]
Skinning roasted peanuts is a lot easier than skinning almonds or hazelnuts. Hmmm… I think I can just transform that jar of peanut butter I made (http://honeywhatscooking.blogspot.com/) into nutella!!
Thank you for the awesome recipie!!