Creamy, lush, chocolaty and full of toasted hazelnut flavor this homemade 'Nutella' is much better than store-bought. It tastes better and it's filled with better ingredients! Enjoy this naturally vegan and gluten-free chocolate hazelnut on toast, banana waffles , in my Chocolate Hazelnut Tart or just off the spoon!
Toast your hazelnuts on a cookie sheet in the oven set at 325°F for 10-15 minutes. Watch them carefully so they don't burn. Give the tray a little shake every few minutes to help even toasting. Once the nuts become fragrant, remove them from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and then it's time to get the skins off. You can either:•place them on one half of a tea towel, then fold the other side of the tea towel over and rub back and forth to remove the skins, or,• take handfuls of nuts at a time between your hands and rub back and forth to let the skins fall down onto the cookie sheet, placing the skinned hazelnuts into the blender. Don't worry about the skins that are stubborn and won't come off.
Place the toasted, skinned hazelnuts into a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend them on a medium setting until a nut butter starts to form, scraping down the sides as necessary. Turn the speed up once the nut butter has formed. A smooth nut butter can take 5-10 minutes depending on the appliance.
In the meantime, place the coconut oil and chocolate in a microwavable bowl. Heat in 20-30 second bursts, stirring well each time to ensure even heating. Chocolate burns very easily and will become unusable once it seizes.
Once the nut butter is smooth, pour the melted chocolate/oil, vanilla and salt into the blender. Process on high until the spread is smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down occasionally. It will be quite runny at this point but will thicken once it comes back down to room temperature. To firm it up, refrigerate it for couple of hours and then take it out, leaving it at room temperature for an hour gives the nicest results. From there, keep it at room temperature if using within a week. If you keep it in the fridge, it will be firm and hard to spread but easy to eat off a spoon ;) This spread will keep several weeks stored in an airtight container in the fridge.