Written by Kate Tietje and updated by Sarena-Rae Santos in November of 2023.
Okay, I have a confession: I’ve had a love affair with Nutella since high school. I was in a French club (I took 4 years of it), and we would make crepes and spread Nutella on them. It was delicious. I also have an obsession with any sort of chocolate hazelnut candy. I just love the combination.
But I won’t buy Nutella. Have you ever read the ingredients on that stuff?? Skim milk and a bunch of additives. Delicious, but…so not worth it. It’s not real food. And given that there’s not much-redeeming value, nor is it necessary to nutrition…it doesn’t make it on my shopping list. (If I’m getting a treat, it has to fit into the budget and have some redeeming value.)
Every recipe I’ve found online had a problem. Most recipes used powdered white sugar or powdered milk — neither of which are real food! I’m not doing that. Plus, most relied on some sort of powder for thickening, so there was no easy substitute. I’ve found a few recipes that didn’t, but they didn’t have any cream or milk. I love the creaminess of Nutella…that’s what I want! Dark chocolate + hazelnuts just isn’t the same.
I set out to make my own version, finally. And oh my…it was so quick and simple and so delicious. It’s rich, thick, and perfect…with none of the issues that the other versions I saw had. Here it is.
Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce
This recipe makes about 1 cup of chocolate hazelnut sauce.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder or raw cacao (you can even use Earthley’s Cocoa Calm)
- 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
- 1/4 cup hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp. cream (or whole milk)
Directions:
Step 1: In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder and maple syrup until smooth.
Step 2: In a blender, blend the hazelnuts until crushed. Add the chocolate mixture and continue to blend, adding the cream (ideally) or milk. Blend until smooth.
Delicious on ice cream, smeared on crepes (I put it on coconut crepes earlier this week), or anywhere you can imagine! Try heating it gently and dipping fresh fruit into it too!
Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder or raw cacao you can even use Earthley's Cocoa Calm
- 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
- 1/4 cup hazelnuts
- 2 tbsp. cream or whole milk
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder and maple syrup until smooth.
- In a blender, blend the hazelnuts until crushed. Add the chocolate mixture and continue to blend, adding the cream (ideally) or milk. Blend until smooth.
You are my hero! This looks and sounds (reads?) so fantastic – it's going on my "To Make" list. Thanks for sharing!
Could I use the grade A maple syrup? Or agave nectar instead? (I have the grade A on hand as well as the agave nectar. Just curious! Thanks!!! (My kids live off of Nutella – this would help!!!)
Sure, grade A maple syrup would work. I wouldn’t choose agave nectar because I don’t believe it is a very healthy sweetener (unfortunately — I used to use it a lot three years ago!).
Do you know if anything can be subbed for the butter? Oil or palm shortening maybe?
Hi Erica, palm shortening is probably the best choice since it’s solid at room temperature. You could also try food-grade cocoa butter and I bet that would work!
Talk about divine providence… My circle was just discussing Nutella a couple of nights ago. Thrilled to try this real food version, just so sorry that I have to wait until the weekend to get to the store for the hazlenuts! Thanks for testing and sharing!
Oh, this looks too easy not to try! Thanks for sharing! I’ll remember this when it’s time for me to place my next order at Azure…..Get hazelnuts!! 🙂
Thank you for calling out Nutella! All of these commercials about how amazing and healthy it is…ugh! I went to buy some, and took one glance at the label and it was over. I was very disappointed at the representation of this item :/ Looking very much forward to this recipe 🙂
What about honey? We are on GAPS diet and honey is the only sweetener we can use.
Yes, that should work too. Try a lighter honey though, a darker honey would give too much of its own flavor.
I made this today. I would like to say THANK YOU! My British husband loves Nutella and I really do not like buying it (even if it is so good) because of everything it has in it. Well Sir pickiness gave 1.5 thumbs up because I used Dark cocoa powder to make it and he is not to keen on dark chocolate so for him to say it was really nice that is saying something. Thank you for sharing this because now I know exactly what is in it.
I posted a pic on your FB page.
We love Nutella but won’t but it because it’s not Fair Trade and is produced using slave labor … My children thank you 🙂
OMG, I can not wait to make this!!! My husband loves Nutella. What is the shelf life after you make it? Can you put it in the fridge?
Yes, you can put it in the fridge. It should last a week or so there.
Where can I buy hazelnuts?? Thanks!!
http://www.nuts.com
I researched organic nuts last night and this was the cheapest place with the best selection I found. 🙂