Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

I REALLY love chocolate! (Have you noticed?) I love chocolate drinks, and chocolate cakes, and chocolate cookies, and chocolate-banana-macadamia ice-cream, and chocolate sauce... I even love chocolate chicken!! (My dh and I went to a Mexican restaurant last night, and of course I had to order Mole Poblana - chocolate chilli chicken - yum!)

I've been meaning to post my recipe for hazelnut chocolate spread for a while... It's much healthier than Nutella, and to make it dairy free you can use dairy free chocolate and coconut oil - works beautifully! You could even use this amazing coconut butter (made in minutes in the Thermomix from dried coconut) instead of the coconut oil, although it doesn't turn out quite as smooth, and has a slight coconutty flavour. Otherwise, use ghee (recipe below) or just good old butter (if you can have it).

Hide this delicious spread in the back of the fridge, and then when you feel the need for some chocolate, you can spread it thickly on a hot bread roll, or some toast, or onto strawberries, and sneak off to your room to eat it! Just don't tell the kids and hubby it's there, or it won't last long! ;) 


Note: First you should toast your hazelnuts in the oven and rub off the skins with a tea towel. If you don't have time or can't be bothered, you can use the raw hazelnuts, the flavour will just be a bit less nutty.

1. Grind in Thermomix on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 90g Rapadura

2. Add and grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 60g hazelnuts (toasted or raw)

3. Then add and grind again for 10 seconds:
- 50g good quality, dairy free dark chocolate (70-85% cocoa organic chocolate, or my recipe), broken into pieces

4. Add remaining ingredients and heat for 6 minutes, 60 degrees, speed 3:

- 20g cacao powder (or good quality cocoa)

- 100g rice/almond milk

- 70g coconut oil, coconut butter, ghee (recipe below) or butter

5. Place in a sterilized jar and keep in fridge for up to 21 days (not that it will last that long!!!)

To make your own ghee, just cook butter for 7-10 mins at 60 degrees, speed 1; cool, scrape off milk solids and discard, and carefully scoop ghee into another container, discarding any milk solids at the bottom of the container.