Homemade Dark Choc Hazelnut Spread (aka Nutella) (Updated)

My girls love Nutella. Heck, any chocoholic would love Nutella! But I wasn't pleased with its first ingredient being sugar followed by highly saturative palm oil and a host of unwanted stuff including artificial flavor.

My husband has been talking about making Nutella at home eons ago but I had never took it seriously. I have become a lot more health conscious since moving here to America and I thought why not try homemade Nutella for a change?

I tweaked the original recipe on the Internet by The Splendid Table (thank you!) to include dark choc instead of only milk choc and increased the amount of hazelnuts to 1 and 1/2 cups for that extra heavenly hazelnut flavor. I loved the final results though I felt the sugar can be reduced.

Use a good food processor that grinds the hazelnut to a paste- this is very important. Otherwise, the spread will harden the next day. I used Nutri Bullet and I use this for grinding my nuts and other hard dry food. It processes hazelnuts so well - to a smooth creamy paste. No wonder they call NutriBullet a Magic Bullet!

What follows below is a less sweet slightly bitter (because of the dark choc) version of hazelnut spread. It should last for 2 weeks. Please do not put it in the fridge or microwave. Those are other surefire ways to harden the spread! 

Verdict from Ranya ( my 13 year old ) - Yummy!! No diff.
Verdict from Riya (my 11 year old ) - Grainy and not the same.
Verdict from Anand ( my husband) - Wonderful. I can finally have a hazelnut spread on my bread.
So you see 3 out of 4 agreed that this version is a great healthier alternative to store bought Nutella.

Ingredients ( 3/4 pint)
1 and 1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted and skinned

2 tbsps canola oil
2-3 tbsps confectioner's sugar (depending on how sweet you prefer)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3oz milk choc
9 oz dark choc (60% Cocoa)

Method
The hazelnuts can either oven roasted at 350 deg F for 15 mins or pan roasted for 30 mins on medium heat stirring regularly. Please watch the hazelnuts so that they do not burn. Once they are browned, remove them from the fire. Rub the nuts together to remove the skins.  
Melt the milk and dark choc on low heat.
Get the very good food processor and add in the roasted hazelnuts first. Blend to a smooth paste.
Stir in the canola oil, confectioner's sugar (or icing sugar), salt, vanilla extract and the cocoa powder.
Blend again to mix it well.
Lastly, add in the melted milk and dark choc.
Give the food processor a final whirl to incorporate all the ingredients into the spread.
The final spread will be smooth and thin, not as thick as the usual Nutella.

So far it has been out in our cupboards for 4 days. It still smells and tastes heavenly :))

After 2 weeks, the spread started to harden.

Note
You can omit the milk choc and try a complete dark choc hazelnut spread too.
Hazelnuts can be substituted by almonds. I read that it tastes almost the same.