Can Nutella be ever more than chocolate or it’s already eclipsed that once it tried to imitate? Let’s make chocolate hazelnut spread and see!
After World War II there were rationing of food across Europe. An Italian baker named Pietro Ferrero didn’t like the idea of not being able to get enough chocolate for its desserts. So instead of waiting for it patiently like everybody else did, he started to experiment with what he had.
Being born into Italy’s hazelnut homeland, he started to sell hazelnut blocks with chocolate. It took a couple of years perfecting it but in five years hazelnut cream took shape. It took another 20 years for the Ferrero family to master its invention and put a name to their masterpiece, but Nutella was ready to step out of the shade of its chocolate master and stand on its own.
Since 1963 Nutella became synonymous with hazelnut spread despite the fact that current recipe contains almost 60% sugar, 30% fat and 10% hazelnut. That’s somewhat off to the original 71.5% hazelnut and 19.5% chocolate but this didn’t stop the marketing department advertising Nutella as a healthy breakfast for decades.
No wonder Nutella became the number 1 chocolate spread in many countries where having a piece of chocolate on a slice of bread hasn’t taken root (¡Hello Spain!). Nowadays, Nutella is so popular that it’s parent company Ferrero uses 30% of the world hazelnut harvest year after year even if they almost put nothing into Nutella.
The company is so confident in Nutella that its ingredients aren’t even a secret. As they say it’s the method how they put together the ingredients matters, not what’s in it. Probably it’s true given the ingredients in the spread.
Can we make Nutella at home?
We can easily try our own hands making Nutella, even trying the various nations preferences as Nutella isn’t the same everywhere. It’s adjusted to local tastes so we can adjust it to our taste easily too.
If we are following any diet or any healthy advice in general than half of the original ingredients are probably off limits and we have to work what’s left adding to it what we feel best for us and our family.
The best thing is to start from somewhere the original recipe of 70/20 and develop our own from there. Don’t expect to make a Nutella just like in the shops though. Expect to learn to be better and master the knowledge until we became one.
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 140g Hazelnut (toasted)
- 3½ oz / 100g Chocolate
- ¼ teaspoon / 1.25ml Vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon / 0.75g Salt
- 1 tablespoon / 15ml Oil (optional)
- Sweetener to taste (optional)
How to make chocolate hazelnut spread
- Peel and roast the hazelnuts if it hasn’t been done yet. Hazelnuts need about 15 minutes in a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven.
- In a food processor chop the hazelnuts as finely as possible. Grind them with a grinder if there is one available.
- Melt chocolate.
- Pour melted chocolate into the ground hazelnut.
- Give it another whirl and we are about to finish with our hazelnut spread.
- Add vanilla and salt then mix it again. Mind to put small amounts of salt in there as even as little as a ¼ teaspoon can across quite harsh.
- Add a bit of oil if the spread seems too thick then mix it a bit more. Mind not to use Extra virgin olive oil or any other with a characteristic flavor. Also add sweetener to taste if necessary. If we melted chocolate that was already sweetened then additional sweeteners shouldn’t be necessary. Except of course if we are shooting at making nutella because in that case we need at least as much sweetener as everything else in our spread.
- Our chocolate hazelnut spread should be ready to roll or rather spread.
- Fill it in jars, cups or anything that has an airtight lid. It doesn’t need refrigeration but keep it in a dark cool place if possible.
Enjoy!
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 140g Hazelnut toasted
- 3½ oz / 100g Chocolate
- ¼ teaspoon / 1.25ml Vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon / 0.75g Salt
- 1 tablespoon / 15ml Oil optional
- Sweetener to taste optional
Instructions
- Peel and roast the hazelnuts if it hasn’t been done yet. Hazelnuts need about 15 minutes in a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven.
- In a food processor chop the hazelnuts as finely as possible. Grind them with a grinder if there is one available.
- Melt chocolate.
- Pour melted chocolate into the ground hazelnut.
- Give it another whirl and we are about to finish with our hazelnut spread.
- Add vanilla and salt then mix it again. Mind to put small amounts of salt in there as even as little as a ¼ teaspoon can across quite harsh.
- Add a bit of oil if the spread seems too thick then mix it a bit more. Mind not to use Extra virgin olive oil or any other with a characteristic flavor. Also add sweetener to taste if necessary. If we melted chocolate that was already sweetened then additional sweeteners shouldn’t be necessary. Except of course if we are shooting at making nutella because in that case we need at least as much sweetener as everything else in our spread.
- Our chocolate hazelnut spread should be ready to roll or rather spread.
- Fill it in jars, cups or anything that has an airtight lid. It doesn’t need refrigeration but keep it in a dark cool place if possible.
Notes
F.A.Q.
Is chocolate hazelnut spread healthy?
Yes, chocolate hazelnut spread is healthy as long as it is filled with healthy ingredients. Store bought variants like Nutella aren’t healthy at all.
Is hazelnut spread the same as Nutella?
Technically Nutella is hazelnut spread as it does contain hazelnut. Yet Nutella is closer to sugar spread if we consider that about 60% of it is sugar and only about 13% of it is hazelnut.
Is there a healthy version of Nutella?
No, there isn’t. We can make hazelnut spread with healthy ingredients but that won’t be Nutella. Hazelnut spread is tasty but nothing can substitute the 60% sugar and 30% fat content in Nutella.
Is Nutella worse than chocolate?
It depends on which chocolate we are talking about. At least Nutella has about 10% hazelnut content which is more than nothing as it’s the case in many of the chocolates.
Is Nutella considered junk food?
Yeah, there is no doubt about it. Nutella has about 60% sugar, 30% fat and only 10% hazelnut content. It’s far from a nutritious breakfast.
Why is Nutella so addictive?
Nutella is about 60% sugar. Sugar is an addictive substance but no one realizes it as we are hooked on it since childhood. Once we try to eliminate it from our diet we see how addicted we are to it.
Is Nutella fake chocolate?
Not really, as Nutella has very little cocoa content. Nutella was originally developed to circumvent chocolate shortages after the Second World War. Since it has changed much but still chocolate has generally more cocoa content. Nutella is closer to being fake sugar than fake chocolate now.
Pin now, Enjoy later!
It’s nothing like nutella but it’s tasty and nutty! Yumm!
I love it!