Homemade Nutella
I initially started to make walnut butter and I ended up showing you the homemade nutella recipe - which, in fact, is still walnut butter to which you add cocoa powder and some more sweetener, according to your likes. It has a stronger walnut taste than the bought nutella does and, of course, the texture a bit more rough (it also depends on the type of blender). But it's very good - vegetarian, healthier and suitable for the low carb diet (if you use low glycemic sweeteners).
In the pictures you can see my version with powdered sweetener but, no matter how fine it is, you can still feel it in the texture. I would say it would better to use liquid sweetener like honey or your favourite syrup (agave or maple syrup). As for the walnuts, the ideal is to use hazelnuts, but I've also made this recipe with Romanian walnuts. It's got a stronger flavour and a more specific, slightly bitter, taste, but it's still very good - so, if you want to try it, you can use any nuts you have.
Also, you will notice in the steps of the recipe that I used 2 different food processors to make this homemade nutella. This is only because I wanted to spare the blender from the extra effort, as making walnut butter is hard work for any blender. Mine has a fuse that makes it stop when it's overheated, so I had to wait for 2-3 hours. Be careful not to break your blenders and use the food processors which are more powerful and more resistant.
First of all, I recommend toasting the nuts in a dry skillet - this will make them intensify their natural flavour and taste. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
If you want to use the raw nuts, skip this step.
While they are still warm, place the nuts in the blender, it will be easier to blend and turn into butter.
Here I put them in a bigger food processor to break them in smaller parts first.
At some point you'll notice that the nuts start to stick onto the walls of the bowl. For me, this is the sign saying I have to transfer them to a smaller blender.
You can continue in the same blender, I am just sharing with you how I like to do it.
So, I moved the nuts to this smaller and, unfortunatelly, less powerful vertical blender. I keep blending until the nuts start to turn into butter. In the process, it might stop a few times, if it overheats.
So I take a break from time to time and start again once it cooled.
You can see here how the nuts start to release oil.
I did not add any oil!
Practically, this is nut butter, a little more liquid and obviously creamier.
With a bit of patience, soon we'll have delicious homemade nut butter!
Although I used powdered sweetener, I ground it again to make it ultra-fine.
Anyway, I was still able to feel it in the nutella spread, so maybe you will want to choose liquid sweeteners - honey, agave or maple syrup etc.
Now add the sweetener, vanilla extract, salt and cocoa powder to the nut butter in the blender.
If you want only the nut butter flavour, skip the cocoa powder.
Mix well and, for extra gloss, you can tip in 1-2 tbsp no smell oil: avocado, peanut, walnut oil etc. This is optional.
Now adjust the sweetener to your taste, you might want the homemade nutella to be slightly sweeter.
Then transfer in jars or bowls and store in the fridge - the one I made a month ago still lasts and it's still good. Stored in a cool place, it won't stale, nor change its taste.
Enjoy!
