Homemade Nutella

Nutella is the stuff dreams are made of.  Everyone loves it, and we all can find a million things to do with it.  So to start I figured why not make my own instead of buying it.  I still had tons of hazelnuts left, even after making this pie.  I researched a bunch of different recipes.  There are so many out there.  It was hard to decide what to do.  There seemed to be 2 directions - honey as the sweetener or powdered sugar.  Personally, I don't eat Nutella for the health benefits - so I picked powdered sugar!  Seemed like it would be closest to the original that way. 

It is a little richer than store bought.  I roasted the hazelnuts, and they really come through.  It is still the sweet delicious Nutella I love, just more intense.  It was pretty darn easy too.  Just let the food processor work for a few minutes, melt some chocolate, and you are about done.  And there are some yummy things you can do with it too!  Or you can just enjoy it for breakfast on an English Muffin, one of my favorites!  Just wait for the follow up to this post :)  If that isn't a teaser, I don't know what is!

Homemade Nutella
Recipe from Home Cooking Adventure
Printable Recipe

1 cup hazelnuts, roasted

4 tbsp powdered sugar

200 g milk chocolate

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Process nuts in a food processor for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth liquid butter texture. 

 

Meanwhile melt chocolate over a bain-marie until smooth. Add the melted chocolate, sugar, cocoa powder, oil and vanilla extract to hazelnuts and process until smooth. 

Transfer the spread into a small sauce pan and cook at over low for 5 minutes then place finished hazelnut chocolate spread to an airtight container, let cool then refrigerate. Stir before serving.  

Chocolate Hazelnut Pie

Remember back when I made Pistachio Ice Cream?  I promised more recipes with the goodies that Oh! Nuts had sent me.  Well I think it is time to share this delicious pie that I made with the Hazelnuts and Almond Flour.  This recipe was adapted from Giada.  I love her, we are on a first name basis :)  Anyway, I saw her make this years ago, and printed the recipe right away. I have just never had Hazelnuts around to try making it.  So that was first on my list when OH! Nuts contacted me.

I didn't really have a reason to make this when I did, so we called our neighbors over at 3:00 in the afternoon for dessert.  It was a hit.  My friend absolutely loves hazelnuts, she could probably live off Nutella alone.  So I thought of her right away when I made this.  So glad they liked it!

Note - the original recipe uses all purpose flour, I just wanted to try my almond flour.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pie
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Printable Recipe

Pie:
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup hazelnuts toasted
1/4 cup almond flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup hot water
4 eggs
1 stick butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat to 350 degrees F.

 

Put 1/2 of the chocolate chips, hazelnuts, and flour in the food processor. Pulse until the hazelnuts are coarsely chopped. Pour the nut mixture into a small bowl and set aside.



Combine remaining chocolate chips and sugar in the food processor. Blend until the mixture is finely ground. With the machine running, gradually add the hot water until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add the eggs, butter, vanilla. Pulse until mixture is blended.



Return the hazelnut mixture to the food processor and pulse to incorporate. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool for 1 hour in a cooling rack.  Refrigerate for 2 hours. Allow the pie to return to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

While the pie is cooling you can make the cream.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the powdered sugar, and vanilla. Continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks.

Serve each slice with a dollop of Whipped Cream!