My daughter is a fan of Nutella and spreads it on everything, including her face sometime. Seeing as we had collected a vast amount of Hazelnuts, it seemed an obvious idea to make our own.
 |
| We Made This... Ta Da! |
I made "nutella" once before and destroyed the drive cog on our blender in the process. I'm sure it was on the way out anyway...
 |
| Nuts! |
We found several different methods but in the end, we chose one that used ingredients that we either had in the cupboards or could easily obtain locally.
 |
| Don't Burn Your Fingers and Don't Eat Too Many Before Weighing |
This time we used a recipe from Oh Nuts! and everyone agreed that it tasted even better than the real thing. Plus not a drop of palm oil was used, so no need to apologise to the environment... By the time you read this, I'm sure we will be well into the making of our next batch.
 |
| Whisk and Whisk... |
- 2.5 oz roasted unsalted hazelnuts (also available from shops!)
- 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 3 oz (about 1/2 cup) plain chocolate, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp honey. We used some donated by friends of the Urbane Forager.
- a food processor
 |
| French Foragers Honey From Friends |
- The first step is to toast the hazelnuts. Toasting nuts adds a depth of flavour that’s important to the finished product. It also makes it easier to remove any remaining skins. So place your nuts in a preheated 200 degree C oven, and toast them until they’re brown and fragrant, about 10-12 minutes. Be sure to stir them every 3-4 minutes to keep them from burning. Once they’re toasted, remove the skins then set them aside (the nuts, not the skins) until they’re no longer hot.
- The food processor is going to do most of the work in this recipe. Start by adding the cooled, toasted hazelnuts to the processor bowl. Turn the food processor on, and after a minute or two you’ll be left with very finely ground hazelnuts. Wonderful for sprinkling on pastries, but that’s not what we’re going for, so keep processing. After another minute, the nuts will start to clump together around the blade, and you’ll find you have a smooth paste. Add a touch of salt, and you've create a tasty hazelnut butter! But we want nutella, so turn that processor back on…
After about 5 minutes, your hazelnuts should be processed into a liquid. Scrape down the sides and the blade and process until there are no lumps remaining. Set the hazelnuts aside while you prepare the chocolate portion of the recipe.
Nice... - The chocolate will need to be melted, so we used the double boiler method on the stove-top. Whichever method you choose, combine the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, and honey in a bowl.
- If you’re using a double boiler, put the bowl on a pan of simmering water on the stove-top, and heat it, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. If you’re using the microwave, be sure to stir the mix after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating, and stop once everything is melted together.
Now you've barely done any work and the nutella’s almost finished. It’s magic! The final step is to add the warm chocolate mix to the bowl of the food processor that contains the liquefied hazelnuts.
Messy Marbling - Process the mix for 1-2 minutes more, until it smooths out, loses a little graininess, and gets shiny. The more you mix, the stiffer the nutella gets, so be sure to stop while it is still nice and spreadable.
- We then added the mixture to clean, previously used (and we like to think), Up-cycled Nutella jars.
- Ta Da!
Into Jars (Before Eating) Don't forget to put, the Urbane Forager book on your Christmas present list.Order your copy now!You can buy this lovely book for your friends and family from all good book-stores or Amazon.Author: Alan GibsonISBN: 978-1-78507-300-7Available for your Kindle
