Shop-bought Nutella can be perfectly acceptable, said Ruby Bhogal. But have you ever tried making it yourself? If not, you really should give it a go: the freshness and depth of flavour of homemade "Nutella" simply hits new levels of yum. And it's super-easy – whether you make the dairy or plant-based version. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks once it’s ready, or keep it in a sealed jar in your cupboard for up to a month.
Ingredients:
- 250g blanched hazelnuts
- 50g milk chocolate, melted, or plant-based dark chocolate, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 25g cocoa powder, sifted
- 75g icing sugar, sifted
- good pinch of sea salt
- milk of your choice (optional)
Method:
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- First, preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas mark 6.
- Place the blanched hazelnuts onto a baking tray and pop in the oven for 5 minutes. Give the tray a bit of a jiggle to move the hazelnuts around, then roast for another 5 minutes. We want the hazelnuts to be a light golden- brown colour – roasting them will intensify the flavour and just make the hazelnuts even more... hazelnutty.
- Once the nuts have been roasted, put them into a food processor and blitz until the oils have been released and the hazelnuts have blended to a creamy consistency. You want to really work through the bitty stage so the hazelnuts become velvety smooth, so give it time and patience.
- Add the melted chocolate, vanilla bean paste, cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt and blend again until smooth. If you want a looser mix, add in a few tbsp of milk and mix, otherwise transfer the homemade "Nutella" to a jar.
- Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. When you want to use it, let it sit at room temperature for a while or warm it in the microwave in 5-second bursts to loosen.
- Spread this stuff over toast, use it as a cake- filler, smush it onto unbaked dough, pipe it into doughnuts, dunk your biscuits into it, fold it through buttercream – whatever you do with it, it is spoon-dippingly good.
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Taken from One Bake Two Ways: Fifty bakes with an all-plant option every time by Ruby Bhogal, published by Pavilion Books at £26. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £20.99 (incl. p&p), call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
