Creamy, nutty, and sinfully chocolatey, I don’t believe I’ve ever met a person who doesn’t like nuttella. Sadly, upon becoming vegan, many people (My self included) are suprised to take a closer look and discover that this decadent spread actually contains whey. I really don’t understand the purpose of it – Shouldn’t it just be a pure hazelnut spread, uncontaminated by unneccissary additives?
Well, I had been thinking this for quite some time now, unwilling to give up on such a wonderful product, when I came across a fairly lenthy post on Su Good Eats extolling the virtues of this Italian invention and testing out various recipes that utillize it. Right there, she posted a recipe to make your own homemade Nutella, and lo and behold, it was a simple hazelnut spread, prefectly vegan without needed any extra adaptations.
No way could I resist giving it a shot. It seemed like just the perfect thing to include in the vegan / veggie swap since I wanted to send some food-type item, but I wasn’t sure what would hold up long enough, seeing as it might take longer to ship to Canada. Sealed in an airtight jar, this sweet treat should keep for about a month or so, refrigerated.
Now, I’m not even going to mention how it took me over two hours to skin the toasted hazelnuts. Nor will I agonize over how painful it was to scrape burning nuts with my finger nails after the towel – trick didn’t work. I have no clue what went wrong, but these were some subborn nuts! If I were to make it again, (Which I see being very probable) I would definitely buy pre-skinned hazelnuts.
As the food processor hummed away busily, I was facinated to watch the hazelnuts change into a spread. I’d never made any sort of nut butter before, so I was enchanted with the idea that without the added chocolate or sugar, I had essentially produced hazelnut butter. Without the torture of skinning the nuts, it was very easy to get to this step, so in the future I might be a bit braver and experiment with making my own almond butter, or cashew butter, or… The possiblities are endless!
The mere two cups of hazelnuts grind down to a relatively small jar of Nutella, but I’m sure the recipe could be doubled or tripled almost effortlessly. With such an addictive spread, wonderfully suited to be incorporated into any meal, snack, or dessert imaginable, I’m sure you’ll want to whip up extra, as I’m sure you’ll be hitting the bottom of an empty jar before you know it!
HOLY GEEZ
i need to make me some of that
Great idea. I was just moping about how I couldn’t eat Nutella anymore
Teddy
Hi there,
It’s Amy the organizer of your craft swap. I’ve been checking back here nearly everyday to see if you’re doing better and I’m glad that you are, your blog inspires me to get off my bum. Elif is a dear friend of mine and I know she really loved everything she received from you. You should see her blog, she spends her summers with her family in Turkey.
turkishelifkins.blogspot.com
Hi there, thanks for trying my recipe! Cute name for the Nutella too. Sorry about your burnt hands, but you can skin the hazelnuts when they are cool. For me, the skins rub off when they are almost black. Rose Beranbaum says you can also remove the skin by doing the following: boil 1 1/2 cups water in a medium saucepan. Add 1 cup raw hazelnuts and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Boil for 3 min; the water will blacken from the skins. Remove 1 nut and pinch it under cold water. If the skin slips off, drain and rinse the nuts under cold water. If not, continue to simmer until ready. Pinch or peel the skins. Recrisp at 350F.
I’m much too lazy to make this. We have some vegan nutella that we got from Pangea Vegan store – some European brand. But I bet yours is much more flavorful!
Wow, I saw this in the Vegan Swap photo album on craftster and tried to read the tiny print for the ingredients. Small world that it was you!! Actually, I suppose there are only a few vegan crafters that join online things…
Anyway, thanks for the recipe link!
I made that nutella recipe, too! And I had the same problems – some of the hazelnuts pealed easily, but about half stayed stuck. And the skin under my fingernails was raw to prove it. But after a LONG time prepping the hazelnuts, the rest of the recipe was a snap! And SO delicious.
Anna Maria of Stone After Stone pointed me to this post. As a huge fan of Nutella, I often find that I’ve depleted my stores of it. So this recipe will most definitely come in handy.
Thank you!
Wow, how did I miss you coming back?! I have a lot of awesome posts to catch up on. This homemade nutella is awesome. I must make some. I used to love nutella.
For Canadians, there is a cheaper knock-off available at Food Basics. (Don’t know about other Loblaws chains.)It is a MC Chocolate Hazelnut spread located next to the Nutella in the condiment section.
This recipe was published in veganomicon.
Too bad it was published in 2007!
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I was also wondering why it took me so long to make my own nut butter, what with owning a Vitamix and all no less. You mentioned that you had made your own vegan nutella many times so I cruised over here to see how you do it. I’ll bet you’ve changed your method a lot by now, this was undoubtedly the only time you spent two hours peeling the hazelnuts! I guess I was lucky I used the DuChillys that don’t need the skins peeled off on my first try.
I’m very impressed that you managed to find this post buried deep within the archives! Yes, I’ve changed my approach significantly since this first trial; Now that I have a VitaMix too, I leave the skins on since they get nice and smooth anyway. I also have been using cashews for 1/4 – 1/3 of the total amount of nuts, to add more creaminess. I play around with the sugars, depending on what’s on hand- Powdered agave has been a nice addition, as has coconut sugar. It’s always fun to tweak the recipe just a little bit each time!