Cooking Lesson #265: “Ed-tella”... Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

… from the California Kitchen

Photo: MadMax Chef | Unsplash

How you doin’? I’m ready for some nutty toast spread, how ‘bout you? Let’s talk Nutella® (or as I like to call it, Ed-tella). Did you know Nutella is one of the top-selling nut butter spreads in the United States?
 
During World War II Chocolate was very expensive in Europe if you could find it. After the war, rationing of food products in Europe made chocolate so expensive that an Italian pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero began adding chopped hazelnuts to stretch out his supply of chocolate to create what he called Pasta Gianduja—a hard paste that was sliced and placed on bread, kind of like cheese. A few years later, he revised the formula to make it spreadable and in 1964 Pietro’s son Michele renamed it Nutella.
 
Ever since then, chocolate lovers the world over, from Paris, France, to Paris, Texas, have driven their tastebuds crazy with this rich and delicious topping—spread on toast, dolloped on to ice cream or devoured by the spoonful straight out of the jar.
 
This chocolate-hazelnut spread is so popular that it’s available in over 160 countries and Ferrero, the company that makes it, buys a quarter of the world’s hazelnut supply every year.
 
At Choclatique, our former boutique chocolate company, we wanted to create a clean label Nutella-inspired Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread. A good test of clean label products are limited ingredients, in this case only 6. Ed-tella is a perfect gift to take to friends’ homes now that gathering restrictions are lifting.
 
Prep time:  20 minutes
Roast time:  12 to 15 minutes
Yield:  2-1/2 cups
 
Ingredients
8 ounces raw hazelnuts
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350⁰F.
2. Roast the hazelnuts on a sheet pan at 350⁰F for 12 to 15 minutes until you start to get a nutty aroma. Shake the pan about halfway through to expose different sides of the nuts.
3. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven and let them cool completely.
4. When cool, rub the nuts with a kitchen towel to remove the skins.
5. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until they start to liquify; about 5 minutes.
6. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and process well.
7. Add in the vanilla extract, oil and salt.
8. Store the spread in a large mouth jar. It should keep for about a month under refrigeration.

 
ChefSecret: Some people prefer to melt 2/3 of a cup of dark chocolate instead of using dry cocoa powder.  You can also substitute coconut oil in place of peanut oil.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Where do sick boats go to get better? To the dock!”
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