Some things you just can’t buy. Organic Nutella is one of them. But you can make organic NewTella at home. Make this chocolate hazelnut spread in a high-speed blender or food processor in just 30 minutes. The dark creamy spread tastes even better than Nutella, with a richer hazelnut flavor. Maybe that’s because it has more nuts than sugar or oil, unlike commercial Nutella. Other benefits? NewTella has no added oil, no dairy, no soy, and no artificial ingredients.
active time: 20 minutes. Total time: 30 minutes. Makes 1 ¼ cup or 10 servings. Gluten free.
2 tablespoons raw cashews (20 grams)
1/3 cup water
1 cup raw hazelnuts (120 grams)
1 ½ tablespoons vanilla (1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons)
6 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder (¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons) (32 grams)
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
- Soak cashews in water using one of my quick-soak methods or soak them for several hours. Heat oven or convection toaster oven to 375°F. Put hazelnuts in a rimmed baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. (I use an 11” x 7” pan.) Roast hazelnuts for 8 minute. Get out a clean, rough-textured towel that you don’t mind staining. When hazelnut skins start to split and nuts are golden brown, dump them on the towel. Wrap the towel around nuts and let them steam for 5 minutes.
- Put vanilla, cacao, maple syrup, and salt in a high-speed blender if possible or in a food processor fitted with the stainless-steel blade.
- Pick up the towel with the hazelnuts and rub them briskly through the towel. Most of the skins will stick to the towel. Yaay! You may have to lift the hazelnuts back into their baking dish, shake nut skins from the towel, and repeat. You don’t have to get every skin, but they are somewhat bitter. Sometimes you can pry a skin up with your fingernail and the rest of the skin will pop off.
- Add soaked cashews with soaking water and skinned hazelnuts to other ingredients and process on high until smooth, about 1 minute for a high-speed blender. Taste and adjust as needed. You have my permission to taste it several times to make sure you’re not dreaming.
- Serve as a dip for strawberries or spread on graham crackers, saltine crackers, cupcakes, pancakes, toast, and whatever else rocks your boat. Warm it up a little and spoon over vanilla nice cream as a hot fudge sauce. NewTella should keep at room temperature for about 2 weeks or refrigerated for about 2 months.
Tips
- Yes, I keep it in the refrigerator even though Nutella has a warning label on it that says do not refrigerate. The homemade version doesn’t have extracted oil or artificial thickeners that harden and clump.
- It’s possible that NewTella will separate if kept at room temperature long enough. If it does, just stir to blend.
- I tried making NewTella with hazelnut flour. It was a grainy, bitter-tasting disaster. This same flour is wonderful in cakes.
