“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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Matt went and picked up the milk, but I was upstairs doing laundry when he left, so I forgot to send oranges.
4. 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.
5. 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?
6. 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.
7. Then I kept forgetting to take over the oranges.
8. 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.”
9. She emailed back to say, “Very clever” and then she gave me the recipe.
10. Then today I finally remembered to give her the oranges.
11. 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 NutellaYum

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?