Homemade cocoa and hazelnut cream

Surely you have wanted to know more than once how to make homemade cocoa and hazelnut spread (the well-known Nutella or Nocilla). It is one of those foods that all children like and, let's be honest, even adults enjoy eating it by the spoonful!

Today we make it at home, to ensure that we do not add an indecent amount of sugars and additives, with the added pleasure of making it ourselves.

You'll see that making hazelnut cream is not complicated at all. What will you need? Quality ingredients, a good blender or processor to grind the hazelnuts and a few minutes to prepare it. Claudia's word.

Opinel breakfast knife

Ingredients

• 100 gr of peeled hazelnuts
• 35 gr of mild oil*
• 30 gr of pure cocoa powder
• 60 gr brown sugar
• 120 ml whole milk

*You can replace it partially or totally with hazelnut oil .

Preparation

1. Arrange the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking tray. Bake them for about 15 minutes at 180º (about 10 minutes if you have a fan oven). Stir them from time to time so that they toast on all sides. Now you have toasted hazelnuts, ready to start making the cream.
2. Put the hazelnuts in the blender or food processor where you are going to grind them. Add the oil and start the blender to obtain a somewhat viscous paste. You can also grind it in the CookExpert robot (you can use the processor accessory that it includes, or with the stainless steel bowl at speed 14). You should obtain a fairly fluid liquid mixture, the colour of hazelnuts.
3. Add the sugar, cocoa and milk and continue blending. If you are using a blender, the Pulse function will help you to give it an extra boost and achieve a very fine texture quickly. You should have a dark cocoa cream.
4. Your cocoa spread is ready. What do I recommend you do? Taste it. You may want to intensify the hazelnut flavour, or maybe you want to try adding a little more sugar. Some people even add a drop of vanilla extract!

Grades

• If you want a thinner texture, add more milk; if you want it thicker, add a few more hazelnuts.
• Instead of using 100% brown sugar, you can use a sugar blend, or try using panela. Follow your preferences in flavors and ingredients, it can be delicious in this cream.
• You can replace some of the oil with hazelnut oil , as delicious as it is, it will enhance the hazelnut flavor.
• There are those who like to add coconut oil, it combines perfectly with the flavor of cocoa.
• You will find all the blenders here , and the food processors in this section .