chocolate hazelnut spread

This chocolate hazelnut spread is a decadent and silky smooth treat. It’s rich, chocolatey, nutty, and best of all: it's crazy easy to make at home.

This chocolate hazelnut spread is essentially homemade Nutella, but if we’re honest, it’s a lot better than your standard store-bought jar of sugary chocolate nut spread. Ours is deeply chocolatey (thank you, gourmet cocoa powder) and surprisingly nutty. I’m shocked by how much the hazelnut flavor pops!

The spread is sweet, but not sugary like frosting. It’s fragrant and decadent and silky smooth. 

When chilled, this chocolate hazelnut spread is thick and wonderfully spreadable. At warm room temperature, it’s the ideal consistency for drizzling over sliced bananas, onto fudgy brownies, or over papery thin crepes. 

Keep reading for tips to make the best spread ever!

homemade nutella ingredients:

how to make chocolate hazelnut spread:

• Roast the hazelnuts in the oven.
• Rub off the skins.
• Blend with salt for about 10 minutes in a food processor.
• Blend in hazelnut oil, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla bean seeds.
• Transfer to a jar. Use right away or refrigerate for a thicker consistency.

why this hazelnut spread is better than Nutella:

• Cocoa powder: We use a rich, Dutch-processed cocoa powder (also known as alkalized) to give a deep, dark, intense chocolate flavor. Our version is much more chocolate-forward than Nutella! Splurge on a really good cocoa here, you’ll notice the difference. I'm obsessed with Cacao Barry Extra Brute.
• Vanilla bean seeds: I love the warmth and decadence of vanilla in this chocolate hazelnut spread, but extract tends to seize the mixture. Scrape out a vanilla bean and add the seeds for a layer of sweet fragrance.
• Hazelnut oil: This is optional, but if you have some on hand I strongly recommend it. Hazelnut oil adds a wonderful toasty, nutty, floral depth to the spread. It also helps whip the butter up extra smooth.
• Sweetness: I like to keep this spread less sweet than Nutella. It's decadent and it offsets the bitter cocoa notes, but it isn't sugary like frosting.

Tips to make the best homemade Nutella:

• Use a full-sized, powerful food processor. If you’re at all struggling to get your hazelnuts to break down into butter, chances are your food processor just isn’t strong enough. The 14-cup (720 W) Cuisinart food processor will transform your hazelnuts into hazelnut butter in about 7 minutes!
  • Use a food processor, not a blender, for the smoothest consistency.
• Don't blanch! You may be tempted to blanch the nuts with a dip in boiling baking soda water and a shock in ice water. While this will make removing skins super easy, it tends to water-log the nuts and prevents a creamy butter from forming. I don’t recommend it.
• Don’t add any liquid while processing the nuts. If you want to add a sweetener like honey or maple syrup, or vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean seeds, stir it in at the very end. Once it’s added, it will seize the nut butter. In small amounts this will just thicken the butter, but the consistency will change irreversibly.
• Control the sugar! You can start with just a few tablespoons of powdered sugar. Blend everything smooth, taste, and add more as desired. The amount of sugar you add is completely up to you! 
• Substitute cashews, blanched almonds, or even peanuts in place of hazelnuts for a different flavor!

how do I roast and skin hazelnuts for this spread?

Rubbing off the hazelnut skins is the most tedious part of this whole reicpe.

Some hazelnuts just don’t want to release their skins, no matter how hard you work at it. Here’s my favorite process for getting a majority of the skins off:

1. Roast them deeply in the oven (about 15- 20 minutes).
2. Cover the hot sheet pan with a clean, damp kitchen towel. The steam helps loosen the skins even more than just roasting. 
3. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.
4. Rub the nuts vigorously with the towel to remove the skins.
   • This will make a mess and be annoying. Just get as many skins off as you can. Decide what your time is worth! Less hazelnut skins will make a smoother hazelnut butter, but 100% skin-free just isn’t possible. 

How to use this chocolate hazelnut spread:

• Spread on bread or toast
• As a dip or spread for fruit (bananas, strawberries, apples)
• Filling for crepes
• Swirled into brownies or cheesecakes
• Piped into the bottom of your favorite chocolate cupcakes
• Drizzled over ice cream
• Stir into hot chocolate
• Drizzled over waffles, french toast or pancakes
• Blended into your favorite smoothie (or drizzled onto a banana smoothie bowl!)
• In a peanut butter banana sandwich or roll-up
• Make a Nutella s’more!
• Nutella-stuffed dates
• Layered in a yogurt parfait with berries and granola
• Piped into homemade donuts

how to store chocolate hazelnut spread:

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2- 3 weeks. Don’t keep this chocolate hazelnut spread at room temperature!

If you want it softer, just warm it up in the microwave for 10-second intervals until spreadable to your liking. 

more hazelnut recipes to try:

hazelnut butter

hazelnut meringue cookies

butter cookie sandwich with hazelnut ganache

chocolate tart with hazelnut crust

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