Vegan Nutella
GLUTEN FREE · VEGAN · PALEO
Ah Nutella…there’s no denying the creamy deliciousness of this well-known chocolate hazelnut spread. Is it any wonder then that it has its own official ‘day’? That’s right, February 5th is World Nutella Day! Time to grab a spoon and pay homage, right? Well…any food product that has “sugar” as its first listed ingredient must be something of a red flag when it comes to our health. In fact, Nutella is 55% sugar! The next listed ingredient is palm oil , followed by hazelnuts (at only 13%), then skim-milk powder, cocoa powder, and finally a smattering of emulsifiers and flavourings. None of these have a role to play when it comes to “eating for health”, so why not make your own, healthier version at home?
Just five ingredients and minimal time and effort are all that stand between you and a delicious, healthy nutella. You could even cut it down to the two essential ingredients of just hazelnuts and dark chocolate if you wanted! The addition of a touch of vanilla, salt and coconut sugar is purely to get the taste as close as possible to the far less healthy original - always useful if you are trying to convert Nutella-loving kiddies (or adults).
INGREDIENTS
Hazelnuts
Hazelnuts have a truly impressive nutrient profile. They are rich in vitamins, such as Vitamin E, copper and manganese, and are a good source of plant protein and fibre.
They are a rich source of good, polyunsaturated (ie heart-healthy) fats. As with many nuts, there is some reluctance when it comes to eating them due to fear over their fat content and calories. However, as mentioned, these fats are the good, health-promoting kind, so when eaten in the appropriate serving sizes, hazelnuts are a very healthy addition to our diet and are great way to get fibre, protein and multiple key minerals and vitamins.
Hazelnuts are also rich in antioxidants, which are helpful in regulating cholesterol level and reducing inflammation. Indeed, certain studies have even shown that hazelnuts have the potential to lower various inflammatory markers in the body.
Roasting the nuts helps to reduce the phytic acid content of hazelnuts - this is an “anti-nutrient”, which can impair the absorption of some minerals from the nuts. Luckily, the roasting process makes them more digestible, and their goodness easier to assimilate.
Dairy-free dark chocolate
Vanilla extract
Coconut sugar
A great substitute for refined sugar, also called coconut palm sugar (not to be confused with palm sugar), it is not as processed and even contains small amounts of certain nutrients.
This nutella is not overly sweet, so if you have a sweeter tooth you can easily add more coconut sugar. I have used 1/2 Tbsp, but you could add up to 2 Tbsps.
Sea salt
CHANGES & SUBSTITUTIONS
Hazelnut short-cut?
You can absolutely take a shortcut with this recipe and use hazelnut butter, instead of roasting and blending the raw hazelnuts from scratch. Just use 2 cups instead of 2.5.
From-scratch hazelnut butter.
Different sweetener?
You could replace the coconut sugar with honey if you prefer, but the recipe will no longer be vegan. Maple syrup would work in terms of flavour, but it tends to make the mixture seize up so is not ideal, but you could always try to add just a little at a time, and add a little warm water to the mix if it does seize.
TIPS
A powerful blender really makes the nut-butter-making process much faster and easier. However, any blender, or even a food processor, will do the job, you will just need to be a bit more patient and stick with it, to ensure the smoothest possible consistency.
A blender self-clean is highly recommended as soon as you’re done - just add some warm water and dish soap to the blender and blend on high for a few minutes. This nutella is a sticky mixture, so you don’t want to let it dry out and harden inside the blender, or cleaning it could be a lot more work than it needs to be.
This is best stored in the fridge, but this of course means it will harden. Remove it from the fridge around 15 minutes before you want to eat it so that it can soften up. It will take longer, or may even need gentle warming up (by placing in a water bath) to reach dipping consistency, if that’s what you’re after.
VEGAN NUTELLA
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups hazelnuts, raw
- 1 cup dark chocolate, broken into small chunks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2-2 Tbsp coconut sugar, according to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C.
- Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking tray in a single layer, and roast for about 15 minutes, until they have browned slightly.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Transfer the hazelnuts onto the centre of a clean tea towel and make a pouch around them. Then rub the hazelnuts in the towel vigorously in order to remove as much of the papery skins as possible (some will remain but don't worry). The fewer skins, the smoother the final result will be.
- Discard the removed skins and add the hazelnuts to a blender. Blitz them until they are finely ground, and then keep blending on low/medium until they form a butter. The time needed for this will depend on the strength of your blender, but it should take between 2-8 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender as needed throughout the process.
- Melt the dark chocolate using a double boiler, and add to the hazelnut butter, along with the vanilla, sea salt and coconut sugar.
- Blend again until well-incorporated.
Notes:
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for optimum freshness. Remove from the fridge about 15 minutes before serving so that it can soften up, or you can even warm it up slightly to bring it to dipping consistency faster.