Nutella is one of the most beloved foods on the planet, and you can make it yourself, even better, right at home in your own kitchen. My creamy Homemade Dark Chocolate Nutella is utterly irresistible!
To be honest, I’ve never been the biggest fan of store-bought Nutella. To me it has a slightly ‘processed’ flavor, and since I’m a dark chocolate fan, the milk chocolate just doesn’t do it for me. For some reason, though, maybe it’s all the chocolate hype on the Internet in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I got the urge to try and make it myself.
The interesting thing is, once you start looking at recipes for Nutella, no two are alike. Some recipes use milk powder, others use condensed milk, some use fresh, and some use no milk at all. They can call for butter, or hazelnut, palm, or coconut oil. Some use only cocoa powder, some incorporate melted chocolate as well. Some use sugar, others honey. With such a huge discrepancy in the ingredients I decided the best way to do this was through a taste-as-I-go method.
Nutella was invented in Italy in the 1940s when cocoa was in short supply due to the war. An enterprising pastry maker used ground hazelnuts as a way of stretching the cocoa and it quickly became a staple in Italian kitchens, and eventually throughout Europe. It came over to the US in limited markets during the 1980s. In Europe it’s traditional to eat it on bread for breakfast, but Nutella lovers have found many many ways to enjoy this chocolate hazelnut spread.
This whole experiment didn’t take long at all. I read as many recipes as I could find while my hazelnuts were roasting in the oven. Then I assembled the likely ingredients, added a little here and a little there as I went, following my taste buds towards the perfect flavor and consistency. I used my new favorite extra dark cocoa powder, and not too much sugar, so mine is deeper and richer than the original, but you can use regular cocoa powder and a little more sugar if you love classic Nutella.
After reading all the online recipes I was prepared to have to settle for a grainy texture in my Nutella…I read over and over again that unless you had a commercial grade processor the nuts wouldn’t grind finely enough to get that creamy texture that Nutella is famous for. I was surprised when my trusty old Cuisinart processor that I’ve had forever transformed my 2 cups of hazelnuts into a smooth liquid in under 5 minutes. When in doubt, keep processing. You can actually hear the grittiness fade away as you process.
I love roasted hazelnuts so much I was really tempted to stop right there, add some salt, and enjoy my very own homemade hazelnut butter. But I pressed on in the name of chocoholics everywhere.
I try to reserve my high praise for recipes that truly deserve it. It’s true that I usually only post about successful dishes, I don’t really see the point in sharing something that doesn’t work. But every once in a while something turns out better than expected. This is one of those times. This is wonderful, if you like Nutella you will love this.
Homemade Dark Chocolate Nutella!
Ingredients
Instructions
Make this homemade Dark Chocolate Nutella your own ~
- You can add a pinch of salt if you like.
- Of course use other types of chocolate if you prefer. Milk chocolate will give you more of the traditional Nutella flavor.
Our daughter married a frenchman and he eats Nutella for breakfast on toasted brioche. The product in Europe has different ingredients (sans the questionable list that Clare mentions above). We went to an Italian import store in NYC years ago and there were two huge pallets on the floor of Nutella – one sporting the US marketed product and a very different imported “authentic” version. The one my daughter and her husband enjoy in Paris does taste better than the processed tasting milk chocolate US product Sue refers to so I have not been a fan either. But this dark chocolate “Sue” Nutella is catering to au naturel inclinations and my DARK chocolate addiction. Thanks, Sue! Another must try! BTW, the pasta puttanesca was divine!
As always Sue your photos are beautiful. My boys love nutella so I would love to try out this homemade version. Looks delicious!
Wow, well done you. It looks amazing, I’m totally in awe. Can I come live in your house?!!
Dark chocolate Nutella? Yum!
The first time I tried Nutella, my french friend fed it to her children with a loaf of french bread at snack time. I “sampled” it on the bread. I then proceeded to make a fool of myself eating more ‘samples’ not quite connecting that this is a “kids” snack. Oh, la, la it was good. And…like you…I prefer the “taste as you go” method.
This looks even better than the original!! I love the darkness. Nutella also has a long list of somewhat questionable ingredients, so its nice that this simple.
Oh my! I love nutella… but this?! Looks fantastic. Perfect, actually. I’ve always had a preference for dark chocolate anyway. Can’t wait to try this out.
I do love Nutella! I haven’t cooked much with it and have never made my own. You are an inspiration! Yum.
OH. My. Gosh. Sue, you are kinda evil. Do you know that?! I have hazelnuts in the freezer and I have NO clue why I bought them in the first place. This looks awesome to me. I’ve never understood the nutella craze at all. But, DARK chocolate nutella? I could fall in love with that idea.
GENIUS! Love it. I need this in my life.