Clean Nutella

I will freely admit to having a very strong liking to a certain chocolate hazelnut spread, but as I am trying to eat cleaner I wanted to see if I could make my own 'clean' version. And if I do say so myself, I think this 'clean' version is pretty awesome and I think it only fair to share the recipe. 

I wish I could say that this photo is of me, but it is just a very cute baby eating Nutella. 

Ingredients:

300g Hazelnuts

2 tbsp raw organic cacao powder

15g chocolate whey protein powder

Method:

Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper and place in a 170c oven for about 10 minutes, just until you can smell them. 

Place the hazelnuts in a clean tea-towel and roll the nuts around in the cloth, this will help remove the skins. (Leaving some skin on is fine, it is more of a preference, I know I lost patience towards the end so some still had skins) 

Put the nuts in a food processor (a blender won’t really work for this), it will take about 10-15 minutes depending on how good your food processor is. But stop and scrape down the sides every few minutes and eventually the oils will be released from the nuts and a paste will start to form. Make sure the mixture is quite smooth before adding the other ingredients.

Now you can add the cacao powder and the protein powder, if you prefer not to use protein powder just add an extra tablespoon of cacao powder instead. Blend this together. 

Note: If the mixture is too thick, you may need to add a small amount of oil, I would suggest an unflavoured oil so as not to affect the taste. 

Finally put the mixture in an airtight plastic container or jar and keep in the fridge for maximum freshness. It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks (not that mine ever lasts that long because it gets eaten so quickly) 

Some ways I like to eat my clean nutella are spread on banana slices, mixed into greek yoghurt and straight from the tub with a spoon (and I'm not even ashamed to say it).