Vegan Nutella

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love Nutella, a creamy, chocolately hazelnut taste sensation. I’ve known people to simply eat it by the spoonful from the jar. However, its main ingredient is sugar and it only contains 13% hazelnuts, so I’ve never been comfortable feeding it to my children. When I made this vegan version I was so excited…it tastes exactly the same as the real thing, except it’s healthy! Everyone in my family loves it! I often eat it as a breakfast treat, spread on organic brown rice crackers with sliced bananas on top.

The first thing you need to do is roast 1 cup of hazelnuts, on gas mark 4, for about 10 minutes. When you see that the skins have darkened and have a fragrant aroma, take them out. It’s essential to watch closely because if they’re even slightly burnt you won’t be able to use them.

Once they’ve been cooked and cooled, the skins need to be removed. This is the trickiest part. I’ve read about various ways to do it, but the simplest one in my opinion is to place the nuts in a bowl, place another bowl of the same size on top and shake vigorously. This removes most of the skins. Then rub the hazelnuts with a tea towel to remove any remaining skins. If there are a few stubborn pieces don’t worry, it won’t affect the flavour too much.

Place the hazelnuts in your vitamix or food processor along with the following ingredients and combine until silky smooth:

¼ cup of date syrup

3 tbsps of cocoa powder

1 tbsp of water

1 tbsp of coconut cream

1 tsp of virgin coconut oil

1 tsp of natural vanilla extract

You may want to add more water, depending on how spreadable you want it to be.

Keep it in the fridge and get creative with how you use it….as a dip for fruit, spread on toast, in desserts…the possibilities are endless!

Enjoy!