Put a little love on your plate.
Valentine’s Day. So much pressure. So many expectations. So few scenarios that live up to the romantic ideal portrayed in the jewelry commercials. But on the plus side, Valentine’s Day always seems to involve chocolate. This year, instead of waiting for the right someone to do the right thing and get the right chocolate, make something chocolate for yourself—something you can put on toast, or on ice cream, or on a spoon or on something else chocolate. Yep, something like Nutella. But even better than Nutella because you made it yourself.
While you are waiting for your hot date to show up for that romantic dinner (or for the pizza guy to arrive) you might want to check out these 8 facts about Nutella. It’ll make for some good conversation between those 5 overwrought and way-too-small courses at Cafe Shmancy.
This is not quite as silky smooth as the real thing, but it’s pretty darned close, and it’s so easy to make you’ll be bringing it to grateful hosts often. It’s also dang good in 3-3/2-2 Crepes.
Ingredients
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted*
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons coconut oil
10 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
Method
1. Toast the hazelnuts: Heat the oven to 350°. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until the nuts are fragrant and slightly golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Let cool. *if you can find hazelnuts without the skin, get those. If not, roll the toasted hazelnuts in a towel after toasting to remove as much of the flaky skin as you can. If you have OCD about your hazelnuts and want them totally naked, try this technique.
2. Make the spread: In the bowl of a food processor, grind the hazelnuts with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt until the mixture begins to form a coarse paste.
3. Add the coconut oil and continue to process until the mixture is nearly smooth.
4. Add the slightly cooled chocolate and process until fully combined. Transfer the mixture to a large jar and cool completely (it may be a tad on the thin side until fully cool). The spread will keep in the jar at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Oh, and by the way, do not refrigerate this. If you forget to read this the first time, then put the jar in some warm water on the stove until it gets back to a speadable consistency.
Happy Valentines Day and be good to yourself!
You are evil. Seriously? If my kids get wind of this recipe there will be Nutella mayhem in my house. It’s bad enough that it comes in an oversized jar. Oy.
It’s ok. When it’s homemade it has half the calories. Pretty sure of the science on this.
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