Homemade Nutella

Everyone in my family loves chocolate, chocolate spreads, all kinds of chocolate sauce but somehow they had escaped the Nutella craze. There is never any Nutella in my house! So I decided to remedy the situation once and for all. I armed myself with David Lebovitz’s recipe and a box full of fine Turkish hazelnuts. Whiz, whiz, whiz goes the food processor and you don’t even realize when it’s done. Honestly, this is the easiest -quickest -most- awesome recipe ever. .

And now, I’m suddenly everyone’s favourite. I wield a whole lot of power. I’m the girl who can make Nutella at home..

 David Lebovitz’s  Homemade Nutella via Encyclopedie du Chocolat

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I agree with Lebovitz and think that the almonds can be swapped with hazelnuts. And though I would go with the honey, I would reduce the milk by 100 gms. Next time, I would also use only dark chocolate.

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Makes 2 jars (I made half the recipe and it turned out well)

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Ingredients

1/3 cup (40g) whole almonds
1 1/3 cup (160g) hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup (400g) whole milk
7/8 cup (60g) powdered whole milk
3 tablespoons (40g) mild-flavored honey
pinch of salt
6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
5 ounces (140g) milk chocolate, chopped

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Method

1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the almond separate, and toast the nuts in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven, stirring a few times, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the hazelnuts are browned.

2. While they are roasting, warm the whole milk and powdered milk in a small saucepan with the honey and salt just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat.

3. In a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, or in a microwave oven, melt the chocolates together until smooth.

4. Once the nuts are well-toasted, remove them from the oven and use a spatula to place the warm hazelnuts in a clean tea towel, then fold them inside the towel and rub them vigorously to remove any loose skins. They don’t need to be pristine; just try to get as much off as possible.

5. In a food processor, grind the warm hazelnuts and almonds until they’re as fine as possible. You may not be able to get them completely smooth, depending on your food processor. (I have a brand new one and even after five minutes, there were little bits of nuts in mine, which is normal.)

6. Add the melted chocolate and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the work bowl, as necessary.

7. Once the mixture is smooth, add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well-combined.

(The original instructions here said to strain the paste, which I didn’t do because I don’t mind the little bits of toasted nuts, but you can.)

9. Transfer the mixture into two jars and refrigerate until ready to use.

Storage: The Chocolate-Hazelnut Paste will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week ( it easily kept for 2 weeks for me).