Total Time: 30min
The Recipe:
1 cup raw whole hazelnuts *
1/4 cup raw or dry-roasted peanuts
1/4 cup raw whole almonds *
2 cups water
2/3 cups light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
* If you prefer to skip the process of removing the skins from the nuts, I would recommend finding hazelnuts and almonds that are already skinless or have the least amount of skins at the store.
Cooking Instructions:
Toast all nuts either over medium heat on the stove or in the oven preheated to 375 for about 10-12 minutes until the nuts are a light golden brown (underneath the skins) or when a wonderful nutty aroma fills your kitchen.
Transfer the nuts from the oven into a bowl and cover the top with a clean dish towel. Shake the bowl or using the towel (so you don't burn you hand) or a utensil of your choosing, mix the nuts. After a few minutes, most of the skins will fall off.
If there are still skins, that is okay. Add the nuts to a large pan over medium heat. Toast for another few minutes. Then add the water slowly. Add the brown sugar and salt to season. Keep the nuts over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to soften.
Pour entire mixture including liquid and nuts into a food processor (I used a vitamix, but any powerful blender appliance will do the job). The goal is to blend the nuts as fine as possible. Don't be alarmed if your mixture seems a bit soupy. After adding the chocolate and refrigerating, the cocoa butter from the chocolate will help to firm up your nutella to a nice soft nut-butter texture.
In a bowl, combine your blended nuts with vanilla, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder. The blended nuts should still be quite warm after coming out of the blender and thus, the chocolate chips will melt perfectly as you gently stir in the last ingredients. I personally prefer my nutella to be more rich and not as sweet, since I usually lather it on top of something like an apple or pancakes. However, if you are more of a sweet tooth, I would recommend adding a dash more sugar to the recipe or adding all semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.
Store in air tight jars (fills about 1 - 3 jars) and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 - 6 months. A jar of this homemade nutella makes the perfect gift for any chocolate-lover in your life. It is also acceptable to save a jar for yourself to eat by the spoonful :).
