Pin-Test: Homemade Nutella

You guys, we all saw this coming. The absolute next thing I had to try out was making my own Nutella. I was convinced that it absolutely could not be as good as the real deal and thought all of the pinterest hype could not be worth making it. I'll admit, I was totally out to prove them wrong. But junk in a jar it tasted soooo good. Definitely a little bit more natural tasting, but so wholesome and delicious. I do have to say though, peeling hazlenuts is not for the faint of heart, if you can find some that are already peeled I'd snatch those things up with gusto for this recipe. So here's the dealio, I tried three recipes, one with low sugar, one regular recipe and one vegan recipe. This recipe was by far my favorite. Here's how you can make your own!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil, such as canola
• 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
•  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).

2. Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for about 12 minutes, until they’ve browned a little and the skins are blistered a little. Wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove as much loose skin as possible. (Some skin will cling to the nuts when you’re done. It’s okay—not to mention inevitable.) Let cool completely.

3. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over gently simmering water or in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Let cool completely.

4. In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts until they form a paste. Add the oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt and continue processing until the mixture is as smooth as possible-or as smooth as you like. Add the melted chocolate, blend well, and then strain the mixture to remove any chunks of hazelnut that remain. The resulting homemade Nutella will be thin and somewhat runny and maybe even a little warm but it will thicken as it cools. Scrape your homemade nutella into a jar or other resealable container and let it cool to room temperature.

So ummm....who want's to come over to my house, because I have three jars of Nutella seducing me right now and let's face it, this could get ugly real fast.