I once saw a picture of a pot of “Nutella”… it was a kind of “X-ray” picture of the famous and hugely popular chocolate spread, showing what it REALLY contains.  I was horrified.  SO much sugar, SO much oil… I vowed never to give it to my children ever again!  But I had to find an alternative – when I make gluten free waffles, the children just have to have a chocolate spread to go with them.  

I went hunting in health food shops and found plenty of delicious healthy alternatives to “Nutella”.  My problem was the price tag: I discovered that healthy chocolate spread is a luxury good – and with a large family, I just couldn’t afford it.  So I had to come up with a home made version that the children would like!  I bought hazelnuts and dark chocolate and started experimenting until I came up with a combination that the whole family LOVES. 

So, here is my recipe – it’s dead easy to make, naturally gluten free, healthy, and the children say it tastes better than “Nutella” 🙂

 

Ingredients:

Makes 2 pots of spread:

• 200 g dark chocolate
• 180 g brown sugar
• 200 ml milk (or soy milk for a dairy free version)
• 200 g hazelnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar (optional)

 

Method:

• Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray (covered with baking paper)
• Place the baking tray in the oven, under the grill and roast the hazelnuts for about five minutes.  This is by far the trickiest part of the recipe: the hazelnuts must just roasted but not burnt, obviously.  
• Let the hazelnuts cool down completely and then place them in a blender.  Grind them finely.

Important note: if you don’t have a blender or don’t have time to grill and grind the nuts, you can use a packet of ground hazelnuts.  Just spread the ground nuts on a baking tray covered with baking paper and place the tray under the grill, again being very careful not to burn the nuts.

• Break the chocolate into small chunks and place in a saucepan.
• Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, milk and ground hazelnuts. 
• Heat up gently, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely melted and all the ingredients are nicely mixed together.
• Increase the heat and “boil” for 20 seconds.
• Pour immediately into a pot and cover with a lid.

Our pots of chocolate spread never last long, but I keep them in the fridge once they are open.  

Enjoy the spread on waffles, pancakes or a nice slice of gluten free bread 🙂