Homemade Nutella

Have I ever mentioned how much Tiegan loves Nutella?

Probably not. She’s kind of obsessed. I mean, I think the stuff is alright, but she would eat it all the time if we let her. (Note: We do not. It’s crazy expensive, and there’s a ton of sugar in it.)

Anyway, a couple weeks ago she got her hands on a recipe and gave it a try, since Kirk inexplicably brought home a bag of hazelnuts from the grocery store — and then had to buy a nutcracker to shell them. (None of this passes Trim the Fat Tuesday muster, by the way.)

Anyway, she had fun doing it, and it did turn out pretty well. You could modify the recipe to make it somewhat less sweet, I suppose. The end result isn’t as smooth as what you buy in the store, but I kind of like her slight chunky version better.

To make it, you’ll need to crack and shell 1 cup’s worth of whole hazelnuts (measured after shelling, not before). Then you blitz them in a food processor and add 1 cup of powdered sugar. Blend again and add 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Blend again and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vegetable oil. Guess what? Blend again.

At this point, Tiegan continued to add a drizzle of vegetable oil while running the food processor until she got the consistency she was looking for (spreadable at room temperature, I assume). She said it took quite a bit, but your mileage may vary.

We used the end result on homemade crepes for dessert, and it was really good! 

The crepe on the right has the homemade Nutella, but the one on the left is filled with lemon curd that we bought at Best of British instead. I prefer the lemon, but the kids are definitely Team Nutella.