Hello, my lovely chickpeas! Today I'm bringing you a sweet and delicious treat: my Chocolate Hazelnut Spread! This sweet chocolatey hazelnut butter is perfect on toast for a sweet breakfast, spread on your favorite sweet crackers as a snack, or even paired with fresh fruit. It only takes 6 ingredients and is sure to become a new favorite in your kitchen.
This recipe is highly inspired by the Nutella that we all know and love, but is fully vegan and even oil-free. If you've got a sweet tooth like me, then this is one that you don't want to miss!
Inspiration for Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
I'm sure it comes as no surprise that this recipe was highly inspired by Nutella. In my pre-vegan days, I used to love Nutella on toast as a late night snack. Unfortunately, Nutella contains dairy so it is not vegan-friendly. I wanted to create a vegan version that can be made at home so that I could recreate those late night snack cravings!
Upon researching Nutella, I also realized how much sugar and oil it contains. I wanted my version to lean more into the natural flavors of the hazelnut and cocoa, and less on added sweetener and oil. So my version is honestly MOSTLY hazelnuts! They release natural oils that give our spread the texture we want - all we need to do is add in some cocoa powder, a bit of nondairy milk, and a couple other ingredients for sweetness!
Ingredients
I was really striving for this recipe to be pretty simple, so we only have 6 ingredients! Let's talk about them.
- Raw hazelnuts: an obvious ingredient for a hazelnut butter. If you're having trouble finding these at your grocery store, be sure to check out the bulk section, or try ordering them on amazon!
- Cocoa powder: for that chocolatey flavor we are looking for!
- Vanilla extra, salt, and maple syrup: All for a bit more flavor and sweetness!
- Nondairy milk: we just need a touch of this for consistency.
How to Make Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
This one is basically a matter of roasting the hazelnuts, blending them up, and then adding everything else! Of course you can find the full recipe down below, but let's go over the basics.
- Preheat oven.
- Prepare a baking sheet, spread the hazelnuts out on it, and bake for 8-12 minutes.
- Let the hazelnuts cool just a bit, then transfer to a kitchen towel. Roll them around in the towel to remove the skins.
- Add your hazelnuts to a blender or food processor. Blend until they create hazelnut butter.
- Add cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt, and maple syrup. Blend until smooth.
- Incorporate nondairy milk until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve as you wish and enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
This recipe takes a bit of a "trust the process" attitude, but it really isn't as bad as it may seem! Here are some of the ideas bouncing around in my head regarding this recipe.
- You can use a food processor OR a high powered blender here! The food processor is what I used for the photos you see in this blog post - it gives a bit more texture. A high powered blender, however, will get your hazelnut butter SUPER smooth like more traditional Nutella. Either one is fine, just depends on personal preference!
- Don't worry about getting every single piece of skin off of the hazelnuts! We want to remove as much of the skins as possible (too many skins can make your Chocolate Hazelnut Spread bitter), but a few stubborn skins are just fine.
- If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, you may want to add more maple syrup! This recipe is meant to be less sweet than traditional Nutella, but you can absolutely alter the sweetness to your liking.
- Get creative with how you use your Chocolate Hazelnut Spread! I love mine on toast or with graham crackers. I also think it would be fun to mix into oatmeal, as a topping on waffles or pancakes, or to plop onto a smoothie bowl.
- Looking for more delicious spreads for breakfasts? Make sure to check out my 4-Ingredient Chia Raspberry Jam next!
Enjoy!
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
8
servings40
minutesThis Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is perfect on toast for a sweet breakfast, spread on your favorite sweet crackers as a snack, or even paired with fresh fruit. It only takes 6 ingredients, is super creamy, and is sure to become a new favorite in your kitchen!
*Note that From Start to Finish is an estimate and may vary a bit depending on your blender or food processor.
Ingredients
1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoon pure maple syrup
3 tablespoon nondairy milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat and spread the raw hazelnuts out on the tray. Bake for 8-12 minutes, removing them from the oven briefly to give the tray a shake halfway through. By the end of the baking time they should smell fragrant and be slightly darkened.
- Let the hazelnuts cool just a couple minutes (just enough that they can be handled). While the hazelnuts are still warm, transfer them onto a kitchen towel (this process may stain the towel, so I suggest using one that you don't mind getting dirty!). Gather the corners of the towel and hold it closed with one hand, and use your other hand to roll the nuts around within the towel to remove most of their skins. You want to remove as much of the skins as possible, but it doesn't have to be perfect! Discard the removed skins.
- Add your hazelnuts to a food processor or high powered blender (I personally like the food processor a bit more as it gives our spread a bit of texture, but if you prefer a super smooth spread then use the blender!). Blend/process until they create a nut butter, scraping down the sides of the blender or food processor as needed. This process takes 3-4 minutes in my food processor, but the time will vary a bit depending on your appliance.
(You may have to trust the process here at first - the hazelnuts will start to look chunky and dry when you first start blending, but as you keep processing they will start to release their natural oils and break up more, making the nut butter smoother). - Add cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt, and maple syrup to the blender or food processor. Blend/process until everything is incorporated.
- Add nondairy milk 1 tablespoon at a time and blend until your desired consistency has been reached. Give it a taste test and add more maple if you'd like it sweeter.
- Use as a spread on toast, crackers, paired with fresh fruit, or whatever else your heart desires!
Happy cooking! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your hazelnut-spread-making ways.
Stay joyfully balanced!
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