Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

 

Get ready for a delightfully sweet and nutty aroma that will permeate your home as you roast the hazelnuts for this blend. It might bring the store-bought version — full of processed sugar, palm oil, and milk powder — to mind, but this spread won’t harm your health or the environment. Wholesome ingredients like hazelnuts, date paste, and organic cacao powder create a delicious treat that’s kind to your body and the planet.

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Ingredients

 1 cup hazelnuts (raw)

 3 tbsp organic cacao powder (fair trade or rainforest alliance-certified)

 6 tbsp date paste (recipe link in chef’s notes)

 2 tsp vanilla extract (preferably alcohol-free)

 1 pinch salt (optional)

Directions

1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2

Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 13 minutes.

3

Remove from oven and let cool before removing the skins of the hazelnuts. Transfer to a large kitchen towel and use your hands to roll the nuts around and remove most of the skins. Or, alternatively, simply roll them individually between your (clean) hands to remove the skins. You’ll want to remove as much of the skins as possible because it yields a creamier spread, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

4

Once hazelnut skins are removed, add them to a food processor along with the cacao powder, date paste, vanilla extract, and salt, if using.

5

Blend for 1–2 minutes, scrape the sides of the food processor, and blend again until smooth.

6

Taste for additional sweetness or cacao according to your preference.

Chef's Notes

Make the Date Paste
A plant-based kitchen must-have, here’s the recipe for this oh so easy alternative to refined sweeteners.

Substitutions
You could try walnuts, pecans, or almonds in place of hazelnut but note that other nuts will give different flavors.

Instead of date paste, you could try mango paste or another type of dried fruit paste.

How to use it
Enjoy on top of whole-grain sprouted bread.

Add one or two teaspoons to morning oats.

Mix into unsweetened plant-based yogurt.

Add to plant-based based goods.

Mix into a smoothie bowl.

Add a scoop to smoothies.

Use it as a fruit dip.

https://foodrevolution.org/recipes/chocolate-hazelnut-spread/