Homemade Nutella - chocolate and nuts spread for inspirational snacks

November is heavy rain and windy mornings.
November is Sundays at home, watching movies, reading books. And, of course, November is chocolate. Hot chocolate in a cup? Chips cookies? Decadent cakes?
As for me, I go for a jar of Nutella. But not the industrial spread, loaded with palm oil and sugars: although quite tempting, I am more into REAL chocolate and as I said I find Nutella definitely too sweet for my taste. I'd rather make my own.

The web is packed with interesting versions (even the famous David Lebovitz has one - even though I doubt I'd ever purchase powdered milk to prepare Nutella as it's obviously something I would not normally use in everyday life) but I went for the only one that was already tested before.

A friend of mine suggested to try this recipe. Although not specified in the instructions, she suggested to process the sugar as a first step, to make it as fine as flour and avoid to feel the grains in the smooth cream.
Unfortunately my blender is not powerful enough to make it as smooth as I desired. A little crunchiness from the sugar was still there. However,  I was at least surprised ro realize that no bits of hazelnuts ruined the result. This would have been a difficult issue. But blending the hazelnuts in multiple times actually worked well, and after toasting, pulverizing them while they are still warm also probably helped to get the oil out and turn the hazelnut flour in a homogeneous paste.

The quantities are perfect for a Bonne Maman jam jar. These jars also pretty enough to be used for a small homemade present.

I didn't change much in the original recipe, both in the ingredients and in the instructions. Only change I did was to use half milk and half dark chocolate, as I always prefer to balance the sweetness with a hint of bitterness for good measure. And I didn't regret it.

The cream turned out to be quite hard, so it's better to keep it in the fridge only the couple of hours suggested until it reaches the right texture. After that, it is advisable to keep it in the pantry - even though I am not sure about how many days it will last before the oils gets rancid.

As we are in Sinterklaas time in the Netherlands, I decided to make it as a little present for a couple of friends, decorating the jar with coloured paper (originally sold for decoupage purposes) and a modern-look ribbon.

And now... can you think of all the infinite versions of Nutella we can experiment with? Other than a Tahinella (no explanation needed here), I am thinking of cashews and macadamia nuts, maybe using only dark chocolate and icing sugar, with a drop of honey, for the sweet taste. I have already found out that people tested different versions, but I'd rather stick to my recipe and use a mix of chocolate and cocoa powder instead of cocoa only. However, I find the idea of using nuts oil quite attractive and I happen to have a small can of pistachio-almond oil that I got as a present from Italy. Sounds good, no?
I'll keep you posted.

Decorative paper: Action
Ribbon: Hema (set of five)