I cheated a little. Classic Nutella is basically Chocolate- Hazelnut Spread. See, I’ve never been super keen on hazelnuts, so I decided to use Marcona almonds instead. Marcona’s are a Spanish almond- they are skinless, lightly fried in olive oil and salted. Since they’re already toasted and skin-free, they make the grinding process that much quicker.
I used a Blendtec blender for this recipe since it has a really cool Twister Jar option for superior nut grinding ability. Those little black arms you see– you simply turn those by using the handle on top, which keeps stuff from sticking to the sides of the blender. Not to worry though…if you don’t own one of these yet then you should go for using a food processor for this recipe. Here’s how you make it:
Place your Marcona almonds in your processor or Blendtec.
Grind away until it turns into a paste. Here’s how it looks when it’s almost done. Keep grinding.
You’re looking for a creamy consistency like peanut/almond butter. At this point, you can call it a day and use this up as Marcona Almond Butter! Or you can continue and make my variety of Nutella (Chocolate- Almond Butter).
Add the remaining ingredients, then turn the machine back on until everything is mixed and smooth. I adapted a recipe that I spotted on David Leite’s site, which originated in the book, “Cake Simple” by Christie Matheson. Instructions in that recipe offer an option to strain the Nutella at this point to bring it to a true creamy, classic Nutella consistency. See that recipe if you’d like to strain (or if you’d prefer to make classic Nutella with hazelnuts). Otherwise, just leave it as is and it will have a slight crunch to it- tiny pieces of almond. I left mine unstrained.
Transfer it into a jar and it will be rather loose and pourable- much unlike the Nutella that you spoon out of a jar. Don’t refrigerate it or it will solidify, but do place a lid on top and keep it at room temperature. It should thicken up just fine- to a nice, spreadable consistency, though it will not be quite as thick and creamy as classic Nutella. And if it does happen to get too thick- just pop it in the microwave for a short burst and a softer consistency will return.
At our house, we enjoy our Nutella on graham crackers for after-school snacks, and we like it swirled into banana bread and in thumbprint cookies too. If you’re feeling wild-and-crazy, you can add a little Marshmallow Fluff on those graham crackers too. According to Matheson, you’ve got two weeks to eat this jar of yummy stuff. I’d say that’s a feat that won’t be too difficult to accomplish, wouldn’t you?
