HOMEMADE NUTELLA

So, I am having fun lately making homemade versions of "supermarket food", such as the Digestive biscuits last time, and now: Nutella! I had been seeing many recipes floating around the blogosphere on how to make the infamous hazelnut spread from scratch and decided it was about time to give it a try.

Because I tend to have a nerd-y attitude when it comes to food, I like to research before taking action. What I noticed was that each "homemade Nutella recipe" called for some common ingredients but also for differing ones: some had butter, others had powdered milk, some used cocoa, some used chocolate instead, so on and so forth. With all these variations, I decided I'd have to figure it out on my own. I studied a Nutella label and tried to use some common sense. As long I wasn't using any palm oil in my recipe (yes, the evil palm oil).

At the end of the day, it all came down to three ingredients for a jar of heaven...

1- you will need hazelnut spread. Pure hazelnut spread, no sugar added. I found mine at Biocoop. You could also find this at Wholefoods or the sorts for those living in the US, UK, etc. 

It's like tahini- but hazelnuts instead of sesame!

2- and you will need unsweetened condensed milk.
Note that unsweetened condensed and evaporated are interchangeable- but cannot be substituted with sweetened condensed milk which has a much thicker consistency. 

3- finally, have some chocolate nearby. I made two versions- one with regular chocolate, and the other experimenting around with a caramel flavour, which gave a nice twist! As long as it's baking chocolate- so if you do go with a flavour twist, chocolates stuffed with oozing caramel or jelly fillings will not work.

And look what we have here...a to-die-for-hazelnut spread. 

Decadent, rich nutty chocolatey goodness that you'd have to hide in a password protected safebox! 

Now for the decisive moment- eat straight out of the jar, spread on fresh baguette, on a crepe...

...or eat straight out of the jar?

Recipe for Homemade Nutella (recommend to also read Notes below):

100gr good quality 50-70% chocolate, chopped

100gr pure hazelnut spread- no sugar added. 

200gr unsweetened condensed milk

Heat unsweetened condensed milk in a pot- just heat it but do not let it boil. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Cover pot with a lid for 5 mins. Remove lid and swirl until smooth consistency is obtained and let cool. Then transfer this to a mixer and add the hazelnut spread- mix until perfectly smooth. Empty into a dry and clean jar and enjoy! 

Notes:

Of course, if you wish you can add sugar. The above version produces a not-too-sweet result, but I think next time I would want to add 50 to 80gr sugar. Preferably icing (confectioner) sugar to ensure finest/smoothest texture.

Also- the next day I noticed a white grainy texture which turned out to be the condensed milk that somehow solidified in the process. Nothing to panic about, simply use a mixer/blender and puree it once again until smooth. After that, the white grains should not reappear- at least it did not in my case.

I'm no expert on expiry dates, but I'm guessing this should store well for a good 10 days...considering that chocolate, hazelnut paste and condensed milk as individual ingredients don't call for refridgeration and usually have lengthy expiry dates. I would also recommend that once ready, do not store in the fridge- unless you live in a country where it's very hot.

Finally- have fun experimenting: use different chocolate flavours, substitute with almond or walnut paste if you wish, add some liquor, and for a bit of crunch try some chocolate chips or chopped nuts!