Kanelstrand: Healthy Homemade Nutella Recipe (Vegan)

I have almost stopped buying sweets. Not because I don't like them but because I am disgusted by the amount of unhealthy, chemically-enhanced ingredients they contain, and of course the sweeteners in all forms. With commercial sweets and ice-cream I said good bye to Nutella as well.

Why? Because although Nutella is marketed as "hazelnut cream", its main ingredients are sugar and palm oil, followed by hazelnut, cocoa solids, and skimmed milk. Actually Nutella is 55% sugar! In the United States, Nutella contains soy products. Read the correct list of Nutella ingredients. About half of the calories in Nutella come from fat (11 g in a 37 g serving, or 99 kcal out of 200 kcal) and about 40% of the calories come from sugar (20 g, 80 kcal).

I have already reduced to a minimum the use of refined white sugar but palm oil is so hard to avoid in commercial products nowadays. Not only is palm oil proven to increase blood cholesterol levels and to contribute to heart disease but according to Climate Mama it also contributes to climate change. Often, the agricultural practices used to produce palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia (where 80% of palm oil is produced) have a negative impact not only on the wildlife, and our environment but also on our increasingly limited “carbon budget.”

Being a health- and environmentally conscious chocolate lover I got super excited when I found the recipe for homemade Nutella by the Coconut Mama and hurried to the market to buy some hazelnuts and start blending.

While Nutella provides very little in the way of good nutrition (not much protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals – the nutrients we are lacking) this homemade sugar-free version is not just vegan, it's healthy.

Healthy Homemade Nutella (sugarless and vegan)

So, here is the (slightly adjusted) recipe, accompanied by step-by-step instructions for a healthy guilt-free "Nutella" indulgence!

Ingredients:

2 cups hazelnuts
3 tablespoons coconut oil
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup rice milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

Yields about 1,1 lb (500 g) of delicious homemade Nutella.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).

2. Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet.

3. Toast the hazelnuts in the oven for about 12 minutes, until they get slightly brown and the skins are blistered a little.

4. Wrap them in a kitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove as much loose skin as possible. Some skin will cling to the nuts but that is ok. Let cool completely and put in a food processor.