Make Your Own Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

This probably comes as no surprise to a lot of you, but did you know that a jar of Nutella is sold somewhere in the world every 2.5 seconds? I mean, what's not to love? Who doesn't like smearing chocolate all over their pancakes, toast, muffins, and anything else that needs a bit of sweetness? Although it definitely tastes good, Nutella doesn't contain the healthiest of ingredients. In fact, I'm appalled at how much sugar it contains. This homemade Nutella recipe taste better, and is much healthier than the store-bought stuff.

To make this you are definitely going to need a high-powered food processor. It is still not going to be as smooth as the store-bought version, but the more you process it, the smoother it will get. If you look closely at the above photo, you will see tiny little specks and lumps. That's just bits of hazelnut. I processed my hazelnuts for about 10 minutes, and this was a smooth as it was going to get.

What you need:
2 cups hazelnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

How to make it:
1: Preheat the oven to 375°. Spread all of the hazelnuts onto a large baking sheet and roast for roughly 15 minutes, gently shaking the baking sheet every 3 to 4 minutes. The hazelnuts will be fragrant when they are ready.

2: Pour the hot hazelnuts into a large glass jar and screw on the lid. Shake the jar, and the skins will fall off of the nuts pretty easily. Remove the nuts that do not have any skin, and continue shaking the remaining ones until all the skins have fallen off.

3: Put the skinned hazelnuts into your food processor, and process for 5 to 10 minutes, until it turns into a creamy butter.

4: Add all of the remaining ingredients and process for another 1 to 2 minutes.

5: Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. If the lid is tightly closed, your homemade chocolate hazelnut spread will last for several weeks (if you can stop yourself from eating it all in a day or so).