Italy In SF

Last week Twitter was on fire about the homemade Nutella recipe published by the LATimes. Well, at least it was among the people I follow!

Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times

Naturally, I was smitten- Nutella being one thing I really don’t like in the American market version. So, I went about gathering all the ingredients, and started mixing! However  I found out pretty quick that the LA Times recipe was not going to work out for me- I like my companatico sweet, I was not willing to buy a bottle of hazelnut oil for $24, and I don’t own a *real* food processor (only a hand blender with its food-processing mini-tool), so I started playing with the recipe right away. This is what I ended up with.

1 cup of raw hazelnuts
4 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoons roasted walnut oil (but I might take it off altogether)
2 tablespoon whole milk, more as needed

I started by toasting the hazelnuts for about 10 minutes in a 375 degree oven. I put them on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil, as they get messy when they roast. Them I let them cool down for about five minutes, but not too long or the peels won’t come off. Once they cool, I rubbed the hazelnuts in my hands to take off as much of the skin as possible. I then put them in the small food-processing attachment of my hand blender. I miked it for about 5 minutes, scooping the mixture from the sides every minute or so to make sure it was well blended. The original recipe says it should get to a smooth butter, but it didn’t happen for me!- the texture was still a bit rough. Once you feel it won’t get any smoother, add the cocoa, the sugar, the oil, and the vanilla. Mix again- if you have the same issues I have had, the added powdery stuff didn’t blend in too well, and when it did my food processor started to sound as it might explode. That’s when I decided to add just a drop of milk. It worked wonders! I added a tablespoon initially, and when the blender gave me clear indication it did not like to go any further I took everything off in a bowl. I continued adding milk just a tablespoon at the time while I mixed with a spoon till I reached the texture I wanted- creamy and spreadable! The result? Delightful! It even passed the picky Italian eaters test (you know who you are!). And I made another batch for the weekend’s breakfast!

Filed under: Traditional Foods