Oh heyyyy, guys! I did a little teaser of this recipe on Instagram, and also a little BTS of it on my Insta story! A few of you guessed what it was, I mean I guess it wasn’t that shocking once you saw the hazelnuts & the Philosophie cacao magic (chocolate superfood powder!) in the pic — but yes, those of you who guessed HEALTHY HOMEMADE NUTELLA… You were right!
Also, those of you who guessed chocolate hazelnut milk, ummm that is for SURE on my list of recipe to-do’s now. I am drooling at the thought of it.
But let’s stay on topic. Healthy homemade nutella. This is super simple, you guys. Very minimal ingredients.
All you really need beyond the ingredients is a heavy duty blender or food processor. Like, one that really works. Because when you’re messing around with cups on cups of hazelnuts, you don’t want to be stuck with a mediocre blender trying to get the job done… At that point, you’d probably have to add so much liquid to make it blend that it wouldn’t turn out very buttery, but rather liquidy. Not what we are going for.
The key here is BUTTERY.
(P.S. Sidenote: the word “buttery” reminds me of my childhood BFF Kayla’s dog, Luke. Her family called him “Buttery Luke,” which I used to laugh about and think how did they come up with that?!, but now that I have my little Hudster I often end up calling him “Butter” and “Buttery Huddy” instead of his real name… Hudson. When you have a little fur baby with buttery soft fur you would be surprised at the limitless nicknames that go down…! #LOL. Pet owner moment.)
I loooove the way this buttery nutella came out, and that is thanks majorly in part to the KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Blender that I used to blend this bad boy down. Plus, the blender is also really beautiful & fits right in with the light + bright theme of my kitchen… Which is why I included it in a bunch of the recipe photos, so you guys can get the FULL vibe!
Why is this healthier than real Nutella?
I mean, don’t even get me started. Traditional Nutella is made from sugar (first & foremost — no bueno), modified palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin. A.k.a, not a whole lot of natural ingredients. I try not to put ANY modified palm oil into my body, because it’s genetically modified and therefore messes with our hardworking hormones. I also try not to put refined sugar into my body when I don’t need to… Especially when something can be made just as delicious and sweet without it. Plus, there is dairy in Nutella, and I don’t do dairy. Nutella also contains soy, which I believe is used as a binding agent… No thank you.
High sugar intake in the morning, which is the time when peeps usually eat nutella, will spike your blood sugar and set you off on a sugary spiral for the day. Plus it will make it harder to concentrate! Plus, because of all the additives and junk in it, Nutella doesn’t eve really have the high protein per gram or healthy fat per gram content that hazelnuts actually do!
So let’s discuss the HEALTHY version — enough about that non-healthy yuck-ness.
Honestly, this is so simple to make. Hazelnuts (I like dry-roasted from Whole Foods), some form of cacao powder, some water or nut milk (to help blend), a pinch of Himalayan sea salt, a bit of stevia (if you like things as sweet as I do!), and some vanilla extract!
And it’s easy peasy from there. All you do is BLEND.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups roasted unsalted hazelnuts
- 2/3 cup cacao powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt (or any salt you have on hand)
- 2 tsp liquid stevia
- Begin with a little less than 1/4 cup water & add more if necessary while blending
- OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I didn’t add these, but I wish I would have! All the CHOCOLATE, please)
Method:
- Pour all ingredients into your high speed blender (KitchenAid®!)
- Begin blending. You’ll need to turn the blender off to stir and scrape the sides quite a bit, because hazelnuts are tough to blend in one fell swoop.
- Add more water or nut milk if you need to, to get it to blend as smoothly as possible.
- Keep it blending for longer than you think… You want it to be as CREAMYYYY as possible. Creamy, rich, delicious, #YES.
Then VOILA, enjoy!
I like to use this yummy spread to dip my fruit and dried fruit in. In these photos, I used dates and figs. It’s also super delicious to spread onto gluten-free toast or healthy protein pancakes! Or, the traditional… Nutella crepes, YES!
And guess what? It’s full of the good stuff. Lots of good fats, protein, complex carbs, and NATURALLLLLY sweet — just like you. 😉
Huge thank you to KitchenAid® for partnering with me to bring you this post — be sure to check out their fab all-encompassing blenders that can literally blend through just about anything. It is my go-to for nut butters, nut milks, smoothies, homemade face masks, soups, homemade lotions (next up on the bloggy!) and more.
Thoughts?! I wish I would have made a video with this recipe… Lots of TBB Kitchen recipes coming to #TBBTV Youtube channel soon! Subscriiiiiibe if ya haven’t yet! XO
