DIY Nutella

Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of almonds and peanuts. I put sliced almonds in my salads, almond flour in my baked goods and almond and peanut butter on toast. My diet is very nutty. Since I’ve only been eating two types of nuts I want to add some other nuts into my diet to increase the variety. Too much of something, even deemed a health food is not always a good thing! (Too much carrots and you’ll turn orange, hehe).

So here I am with my lovely hazelnuts from Trader Joe’s. Bless Trader Joe’s for selling nuts that don’t come in contact with cashews and pistachios (I’m very allergic). I don’t think hazelnuts taste great on their own. But when you add a little bit of chocolate and sugar, I’m game! Insert healthy Nutella 🙂

I like Nutella but, what I don’t like are the ingredients and the sugar content. Two tablespoons of Nutella contain a whopping 21 grams of sugar. The jar itself contains 210 grams of sugar. That’s more than a cup of sugar. YIKES. Check out the ingredient ratio break down in a jar of Nutella below.

Because Nutella is not very healthful I went searching for a homemade version. I came across Chocolate Covered Katie’s recipe called “Healthy Nutella.” I cut her recipe in half because I will be eating it in addition to almond and peanut butter and I want it to be fresh. It yields a small mason jar with only 24-48 grams of sugar. Yay!

Ingredients adapted from “Healthy Nutella:”

• 1 cup roasted hazelnuts
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 2-4 tbsp maple syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2-4 tbsp milk (I used unsweetened almond)

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the hazelnuts until smooth.
2. Next, add the remaining ingredients until creamy.
3. Spread DIY Nutella on toast and top with fresh fruit!