Easy nutty-nutella
Hubby and I enjoy regular bags of mixed nuts, yeah we know how to have a good time people… but every time without fail there are always loads of hazelnuts left in the end of each bag… then a new bag gets opened and the poor previous bag’s hazelnuts are left forgotten about… so today I decided enough was enough and that it was time these lovely little morsels be appreciated dang it!
The only thing was there wasn’t actually as many hazelnuts hanging about in my cupboard as I’d thought in my head, so I used an array of other nuts that were to hand to pad it out… and thus resulting in the nuttiest choccy spread you ever did taste! I had it first dipped a la finger, then spread a la toast (well, not toast in the traditional sense, I was very upset to find we didn’t actually have any bread… cause this was a spur of the moment thang, had I planned ahead, convenient sliced bread would have been purchased and ready for toasting! Yes I have a bread maker and the necessary ingredients to bake bread but come on, one culinary masterpiece at a time!) So I raided the freezer and found some Warburton thins from one of my recent supermarket bargain hauls reduced to 10p per pack, woo! So that was what I toasted and spread the nutty, choccy goodness on… to be fair, it is so delicious in fact that you could legitimately spread it on near anything and it would taste good.
So without further delay, I present to you vegan nutty chocolatey spreadable, scoopable deliciousness…
Ingredients
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ¼ cup each of walnuts, cashews and roasted hazelnuts,
- 2 tbsp chocolate powder (I used 1 of Cadbury’s and 1 of raw cacao)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- Splash ground nut oil to help blend
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and add hazelnuts to a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 8-10 minutes just to warm the natural oils and loosen the skins and make them easier to blend.
- Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Then roll the hazelnuts around on kitchen paper to loosen and remove the skins. They should slide off fairly easily.
- Add hazelnuts and the rest of the nuts to a food processor or high speed blender (I used a nutribullet). Blend until a butter is formed – scraping down sides as required. I stopped and shook the container every so often and it took around 5 mins.
- Add chocolate powder of choice, vanilla and maple syrup and blend again until well incorporated. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed, adding more syrup or vanilla if desired.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store at room temperature for 2-3 weeks or more.
Notes
*If you are using a nutribullet and find it is taking too long you can add a little bit of oil (I used groundnut oil) to help get things moving and blending again. Patience can be required however so if you find your bullet is overheating, let it rest for a bit then go back to it. The longer you blend for, the smoother a result you will get. I blended for under 10 mins in total as I wasn’t too fussed about having avery silky consistency, and it’s still spreadable and lovely 🙂
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