Whenever I see an iconic jar of Nutella it brings back fond childhood memories. For years Nutella was my naughty spread alternative to butter. I could literally eat it straight from the jar.

In more recent years Nutella has fallen victim to my quest to wean myself off added sugar. Despite it being a ‘hazelnut chocolate’ spread the amount of healthy hazelnuts and cocoa powder included are pretty low. Instead sugar and vegetable oil, two of the enemies of a healthy diet, are the first ingredients listed. A two tablespoon serving of Nutella contains a staggering 21g of sugar (a whopping 5 teaspoons).

Here you’ll see a full list of Nutella’s ingredients:

So you’ll understand why I got excited when I saw Bill Granger’s recipe for homemade chocolate hazelnut spread. I had to give it a go. This recipe makes hazelnuts the hero ingredient (yay!) and it also contains lots of healthy butter. I’ve adapted Bill Granger’s recipe to remove the added sugar.

Ingredients

• 100g hazelnuts (removed from their shells)
• 60g butter (ideally organic)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 150g dark chocolate (see note)
• 1/4  tsp salt
• Natural sweetener like stevia (optional to taste)

Note: The type of dark chocolate will influence the amount of sugar in your end spread. Check the label on the chocolate and aim for something will less than 30g of sugar per 100g – usually 70% dark and above.

Steps

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and blanche the hazelnuts. Then roast the nuts in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
2. Transfer the nuts to a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and grind them to a fine powder.
3. Melt the butter and cream over a low heat and chop the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate to the pan and continue to melt.
4. Once the mixture has melted add the hazelnuts and salt and stir to combine.
5. Allow to cool and then transfer to a sterilised jar.

I love this with bananas (maybe on pizza dough) but if you have any other tasty serving ideas let me know!

How to sterilise jars 

• Wash jars and lids in warm soapy water and remove any original labels
• Put the jars in a pan covered with water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and boil for 10-15 minutes
• Optional extra step – remove from the water and add the jars into the oven at 100C for 10-15 minutes

By Feast Wisely

 Other posts you might like:

• Mini chocolate & hazelnut cheesecakes
• My rhubarb crumble recipe – only 4 essential ingredients
• No added sugar nutty chocolate-oat cookies
• Creamy homemade vanilla ice cream