Niece Number 1 arrived from Hong Kong early this morning. She exited the airport in record time, and had toast and home-made ‘Nutella’ when she got through the door.
This chocolate spread is meant to replace Nutella for those who like Nutella but are concerned with its ingredients, which are currently listed as sugar, palm oil, 13% hazelnuts, 8.7% skimmed milk powder, 7.4% fat-reduced cocoa, lecithins and vanillin. This means that the total sugar and palm oil content in Nutella is around 70%.
HK Sister asked what the issue with palm oil was, whether it was bad for our health or whether it was bad for the environment. My issue is more with the sugar content of Nutella rather than the use of palm oil. The reason I say this is that I still eat butter, so cannot criticise Nutella if palm oil were a bad fat. Bad fat is bad fat, regardless of what type it is. Palm oil cultivation does destroy rainforests. But I own a car, take long-haul flights and have beauty products in plastic containers. Although I am a voracious recycler, I have never done an environmental audit of our household. If I were to denounce palm oil then I had better be prepared to denounce all the other industries and practices which are destroying our planet.
There are two recipes here for not-a-nutella. Similar recipes call it Notella or Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread. This was a fun project and along with lemon curd and chocolate chip cookies, would make a nice home-made gift when visiting friends. I made everything in a Thermomix, and without one you would blend and heat the ingredients separately. It should work, but the resulting spread might not be as smooth.
The ingredients relevant to both recipes are the hazelnuts, cocoa powder and chocolate/ vanilla extracts as well as milk
Not-a Nutella Number 1 adds coconut sugar, milk chocolate and coconut oil
Not-a-Nutella Number 1:
120 g whole skinned hazelnuts, toasted slightly
120 g coconut sugar
20 g cocoa powder
180 g milk
340 g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
40 g coconut oil
1 teaspoon chocolate extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the hazelnuts, sugar and cocoa powder in the TM bowl and grind 20 seconds/speed 10.
Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
Add the milk and heat 4 min/100°C/speed 3, then blend 1 minute 30 seconds/speed 10.
Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl again.
Add the chocolate, oil and chocolate and vanilla extracts. Melt 3 minutes/50°C/speed 3.
Transfer the chocolate spread to a sterilised jar, cover with a lid and cool. If you are not serving it soon, then refrigerate until needed.
Not-a Nutella Number 2 adds dates and maple syrup
Not-a-Nutella Number 2:
150 g whole skinned hazelnuts, toasted slightly
40 g cocoa powder
150 g seedless dates, cut into small pieces
150 g maple syrup
150 g milk
1 teaspoon chocolate extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the hazelnuts and cocoa powder in the TM bowl and grind 20 seconds/speed 10.
Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
Add the dates, maple syrup and milk. Heat 4 min/100°C/speed 3, then blend 1 minute 30 seconds/speed 10.
Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl again.
Add the chocolate and vanilla extracts. Stir 15 seconds /speed 3.
Transfer the chocolate spread to a sterilised jar, cover with a lid and cool. If you are not serving it soon, then refrigerate until needed.
Not-a Nutella Number 1
Not-a Nutella Number 2
In terms of taste, I marginally prefer NaN 1, because I love milk chocolate. However the coconut oil gave it a slight coconut aroma. I am not sure if I would want to use other vegetable oils though, so might have to stick with this. NaN 2 tastes really good too and you could not tell there were dates or maple syrup in it. In both spreads the overall taste was one of hazelnuts and chocolate. It is then a personal choice which of the ingredients you prefer in making the spread.
When I gave this to my family and neighbours to try, they all said it would make a really good filling or icing for a cake. I think NaN 1 would go well with a banana coconut cake, and NaN2 would go well with an orange cake.