“Homemade Nutella” is a recipe request I’ve had over and over. I never got around to making it (and I have excuses). But do you remember how I told you that my friend Anne and I exchange Christmas stockings each year? Well this year, one of the items she put in my stocking was Homemade Nutella! I begged her for the recipe – and here it is.
You really don’t want to know all of this, but just in case you do, even though you really don’t, here is the background information on how I managed to get this recipe from Anne:
- I emailed Anne after I got back from California to thank her for the lovely stocking and to tell her that later that day when Matt came to pick up our milk, I would send over some of the fresh oranges we’d brought back from our trip. And I asked her for her Nutella recipe.
- She emailed back to say that she had also loved what I’d put in her stocking and that her mouth was watering while she waited for an orange. But she said nothing about the Nutella.
- Matt went and picked up the milk, but I was upstairs doing laundry when he left, so I forgot to send oranges.
- I found mouse poop in some red wheat I had in storage and emailed Anne asking if it would be okay to feed that to her chickens. And I apologized for not sending oranges and told her I’d eat one on her behalf, and that at that very moment, I had the juice from a delicious orange running down my chin.
- Then she emailed me back and told me that I was evil to eat her oranges. And she said, “rats” about the mouse poop. See her rodent inspired play-on-words there?
- I giggled and emailed her back and said that yes I was evil, and full of citrus, and that really and truly, I’d get her some oranges.
- Then I kept forgetting to take over the oranges.
- But I really wanted the Nutella recipe. So I emailed her again a few days later and said, “You know how I asked for the nutella recipe and you forgot to give it to me? (Kind of like I told you I would bring oranges and then didn’t?) Any chance you could throw that my way? A few thousand HHM readers would love to hear about it… :) I have a small sack of oranges ready for you by the way. And some poopy wheat.”
- She emailed back to say, “Very clever” and then she gave me the recipe.
- Then today I finally remembered to give her the oranges.
- The end.
You’ve got to admit. That story was a lot more fun than me simply stating, “I got this recipe from my friend Anne.”
Homemade Nutella
1 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup powdered milk (not an ingredient I typically use, but an okay compromise for this recipe)
1 Tablespoon mild-flavored honey
pinch salt
1 heaping cup chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, or chips
1 scant cup chopped milk chocolate, or chips
On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the nuts in a 400º oven for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and their skins begin to pop. Transfer to a tea towel, gather into a bundle and rub together to remove as much of their skins as possible. While warm, transfer to the bowl of a food processor and blend until they go from finely ground to pasty and thick, like natural peanut butter.
Meanwhile, warm the milk, powdered milk, honey and salt in a small saucepan just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat. In a glass or stainless steel bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolates, stirring occasionally until smooth.
Add the melted chocolate to the ground nuts and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well blended and as smooth as you can get it. Makes about 2 cups.
What’s your favorite way to use Nutella?
On a banana!!!
On a spoon :)
http://renaissancelife.us/blog/video-better-than-nutella-spread-refined-sugar-free-hi-protein-packed-with-omega-3s/
I came across this recipe today but am afraid it’s going to taste a little… too healthy… I mean not good. Your thoughts?
Doesn’t look very different from the recipe I posted – I bet it will be pretty good! Maybe add more honey if it’s not sweet enough. :)
great story! a fun friendship :) Nutella on crepes.
I must admit I have never tried nutella. I love hazelnuts though so dont know why I havent. I will be trying it now :)
Our favorite use is for making smores. We spread nutella on graham crackers in place of a square of chocolate.
Our family loves it on Granny Smith apples. My personal fave is on a spoon–which is why this recipe could be very dangerous. I have little will-power when it comes to this stuff!
On the heel of my freshly-baked bread :)
This is amazing (and the other recipe that was included in the comments)! Have you ever looked at the nutrition facts for Nutella? The #1 ingredient is SUGAR! I get irritated at the Nutella commercials that rant about how good Nutella is for our kids. I am diabetic and have to watch my sugar/carb content. Now, I can give my youngest son the option of “Nutella” without all that sugar. Thank you so much!
Judy, they were actually sued for making those comments. I don’t think they lost since I didn’t get any money from it (I was able to apply for it) but hopefully they have stopped now!
Hey Laura!
Here is a recipe I found a while ago and have made a few times. It is oh.so.yummy but without the milk powder so even healthier!! Instead with cream which IS good for you, contrary to popular believe ;)
oops, forgot to include the recipe!
http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2011/6/16/recipe-collection-chocolate-hazelnut-sauce.html#.UPbF9idBCSo
Very nice – great to have an option without the powdered milk!
Not a big fan of hazelnuts, so peanuts would be a preferred substitute. Question: when a recipe calls for powdered milk (and i’ve come across several recently), what can be substituted (especially since i never have any on hand)?
I came across this website while searching the exact same question:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/powdered-milk-substitute.html
Thanks for the information & link.
Agree with you re powdered milk.
Ive also come across these subs:
powdered buttermilk
leave it out and change the water in the recipe to milk (not applicable to this recipe)
I’m assuming the powder milk plus milk in this recipe is for thickening?
I honestly won’t touch PM after reading some WP articles about it.
I hope laura/lindsay answers your question! :)
Someone linked above to this recipe which is healthier than the one I posted! http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2011/6/16/recipe-collection-chocolate-hazelnut-sauce.html#.UPbF9idBCSo I’d go with that one to stay away from the powdered milk. :)
I was actually kind of surprised that my friend’s recipe included powdered milk since she stays away from it typically. :)
Do you think it’s for taste, thickener, or both?
I was going to try powdered BM and see how it tasted. I have a hard
audience to please since my husband grew up in Brazil and it’s used
pretty much every day there in the city households ;)
Probably mostly as a thickener. So the powdered buttermilk would probably work just fine.
I’m curious – do you know what your cost is to make this? Aldi has recently started carrying their generic version which is much cheaper than the name brand, and my daughters really like it!
I’m not sure!
Laura-
Does this require refrigeration? I assume so because it has milk, but the real Nutella does not.. so I thought I’d ask.
Thanks!
Yes, I keep mine refrigerated. :)
I have never tried nutella but just thought I’d drop a line to say I looooove your blog! It’s my very favorite and you are so inspiring!!!!!
Chocolate Covered Katie is a blog devoted to healthy desserts. She has a no-powdered milk (and even a no dairy) version on her blog in case someone wants to explore variations before making their own homemade nutella…
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/09/better-than-nutella/
COoks Illustrated has a Nutella bread pudding recipe that they make in the crockpot and it is to die for!
Where do you get your nuts from?
(LOL about the story of forgetting to give oranges, etc. I STILL have Christmas presents to send out! I have valid excuses I assure you!)
I order my nuts from either Azure Standard (food coop) or Braga Farms online: https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/where-to-buy-organic-nuts-in-bulk
Sorry after I asked this question (for the third time I think) I looked at
your whole food resources :)
I found a place cheaper than Braga that has a lot more Organic nut selection:
http://www.nuts.com
They have well over 50 things in their Organic bulk nuts section and they are
a Google verified business.
I took an hour to price check Amazon, Braga, nuts.com, and 2 other websites I found on Google and nuts.com came out cheaper with more selection.
have you ever dealt with them before?
I’m really hoping that we move into an Azure Standard shipping area the next move we make, you guys seriously get a price break!
I haven’t, but I’ve heard of them and need to check it out!
We love Mini Nutella Brownie Cupcakes. I can’t wait to see if this homemade nutella works just as well as the store-bought Nutella.
I have made this before but an almond version with dates as the sweetener. So delicious!!!!!!!!!
Laura, thanks for posting a better alternative to Nutella. It looks delicious! My question for you is about the mouse poop actually. Do you know how they got in? I recently purchased a nutrimill ( thanks to you) :) and have started buying my wheat berries in 50 lb sacks. I wasn’t sure if I needed buckets with special gamma lids for storage or if it could just be left out. I stuffed 100 lbs of it in my freezer just to be safe. It’s a pain to store them this way and also limits how much I can keep on hand. I know you bought a lot to store and wondered how you stored it all. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Beth
I store our wheat berries in buckets that we got from the bakery at our Giant Eagle. I store them in our finished basement where it’s the coolest. Haven’t had any problems, YET. I’m wondering, too, how they can get in when the lids are on very tightly. Those little buggers!!
I should have specified! The wheat that mice got into was some red wheat I’d gotten and it was just in a paper sack. My buckets have kept my wheat very safe. I had just forgotten about the wheat in a sack!
Supposedly peppermint essential oil is a top notch rodent deterrent!
http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-100-pure-peppermint-oil
“I was skeptical
August 20, 2012
I had heard that Pure Peppermint Oil is the best rodent repellant you can use against mice. At first I was skeptical and I reluctantly purchased and tried it. We placed soaked cotton balls near every entrance, corner and possible gathering place that a mouse can find. After sweeping out the barn/ garage, we closed the barn for a month. upon our return there were NO mouse droppings OR any other evidance of them invading our barn. We checked randomly over several months and found no trace of rodents. Only our resident hawk, perched in one of our trees, was happy. I AM NOW A BELIEVER!”
PS use Laura’s link to vitacost so she gets the credit please, this is after all HER BLOG! ;)
Thanks for all the info! I will be putting my wheat berries in buckets tonight! Also I can’t wait to try the peppermint oil trick. That’s really neat.
Beth
Mmmm….Nutella!! I ate it on apples twice today!! Sometimes I use Graham’s.
I’ve been trying some variations of this recipe to zero success. I purchased cocoa almond spread at Trader Joes and 1. it’s totally yummy. 2. The ingredient for the chocolate part is just cocoa, not melted chocolate. That’s my next version to try.
Do you think arrowroot powder would work to replace powdered milk?
I am not sure, but it is worth a try!