Need feedback on homemade Nutella spread

[MstrPBK]

I am labeling this as a recipe just to be on the safe side for this forums etiquette. What I really need is a second pair of cooking eyes to tell me if what I am considering doing really makes sense to do!

I have seen many recipes for homemade Nutilla Spread online, but each of these recipes strike me as doing it the 'hard way". Here is my take on it and I'ld like some feedback.

1 Pint Whipping Cream
1 Package instant pudding (chocolate)
1 Teaspoon Oil (for softening)
2 cups Hazelnuts (toasted and ground)
Hazelnut extract to taste
1/4 cup milk.

Thinking behind this from my end:

• The whipping cream and the pudding together would produce a chocolate butter.
• Hazelnuts and extract would give it the nut flavor.
• The milk and cooking oil would keep the mixture to the soft side for easy spreading.

Any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions to this line of thinking?


Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[Mad Cook]

I am labeling this as a recipe just to be on the safe side for this forums etiquette. What I really need is a second pair of cooking eyes to tell me if what I am considering doing really makes sense to do!

I have seen many recipes for homemade Nutilla Spread online, but each of these recipes strike me as doing it the 'hard way". Here is my take on it and I'ld like some feedback.

1 Pint Whipping Cream
1 Package instant pudding (chocolate)
1 Teaspoon Oil (for softening)
2 cups Hazelnuts (toasted and ground)
Hazelnut extract to taste
1/4 cup milk.

Thinking behind this from my end:

• The whipping cream and the pudding together would produce a chocolate butter.
• Hazelnuts and extract would give it the nut flavor.
• The milk and cooking oil would keep the mixture to the soft side for easy spreading.

Any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions to this line of thinking?


Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

I haven't made your recipe but the following occur to me.

1. Whipped cream might be a problem as it probably wouldn't keep well.
2. What is the percentage of chocolate in the pudding and is it real chocolate or chocolate flavouring?
3. What sort of oil? Some oils, eg corn oil, don't have a very good "mouth feel" and you wouldn't want anything with a strong flavour unless it was hazelnut oil.
4. Would it be any cheaper than a jar of Nutella?

Don't let me put you off trying so let us know how you get on with it.

 

[MstrPBK]

Yes, when one whips whipping cream it does become whipped cream, BUT ...
If you whip the whipping cream further you get butter. It is the butter stage I want since butter is a 'bread spread'.

The other questions are valid and will be considered. Thank you for your thoughts.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[Mad Cook]

Yes, when one whips whipping cream it does become whipped cream, BUT ...
If you whip the whipping cream further you get butter. It is the butter stage I want since butter is a 'bread spread'.

The other questions are valid and will be considered. Thank you for your thoughts.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

Sorry. Typo. I did mean to write whippING cream.

 

[MstrPBK]

For those listening in and might be novices, Whipping Cream can also be referred to as "Heavy Cream". Butter from heavy cream produces a 'white butter' to which food coloring is added to get that 'sunshine yellow' you see in store butter. This is yet another reason why I believe that producing a hazelnut spread from a butter base might be the way to go.

Personal observation: the responding poster has suggested that production price ought to be a consideration before making anything in the kitchen. IF I did that I would probably never make any new recipe at home and leave it for the major manufacturers to produce. No cooking is about experimenting and trying.

The responding poster also noted that different cooking oils do and will taste - and feel - differently on the tongue. There is a lot of truth in that statement. The same is true about different types of chocolates as well.

The responder also mentions that there is REAL chocolate and chocolate flavorings which are used in different products. That too would/will make a difference in the final kitchen production.

In summary: Some issues I will and will not be able to control. The result will be based on good and bad options found in my kitchen. Hazelnuts cost about $10 s pound (shelled/not blanched) which will be used; and Hazelnut Oil also costs about $10 per 4 ounces, with the oil not being available for this production of the mixture. The fact that Hazelnut oil exists has definitely been noted for the next time I try it. Passing note: If I was concerned about cost production the cost already for the basic ingredients comes close to $15.00 for this starting point for about what I am estimating to be about 3 cups of spread.

For this year (2015) we will be exploring nut butters/spreads, and this is the first of several varieties to be tried.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Your Faux Nutella will not be shelf stable and will require refrigeration. I would stick with ground hazelnuts and high fat cocoa, adding in food grade cocoa butter and sugar to taste.

 

[CharlieD]

Your Faux Nutella will not be shelf stable and will require refrigeration. I would stick with ground hazelnuts and high fat cocoa, adding in food grade cocoa butter and sugar to taste.

+1


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[MstrPBK]

I would agree that anything from dairy would not be "shelf safe" and would need to be refrigerated. Considering where I am standing with ingredients I will keep your observations of "I would stick with ground hazelnuts and high fat cocoa, adding in food grade cocoa butter and sugar to taste." for the next attempt of this. Thank you for your input.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[Alix]

I think I'd start by reading the ingredient list on a Nutella jar. This is the list:

Sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts (13%), cocoa powder (7.4%), non-fat milk solids, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavour (vanillin)

Toast the hazelnuts, then buzz them in the food processor with oil til you get a good smooth consistency. Then you can add the sugar and cocoa to get where you need to be. Not sure how you would add non fat milk solids...maybe skim milk powder?

​

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Ah, I have a jar of Almond Butter and Dark Chocolate spread. Same as the Nutella, but with almonds.

 

[Andy M.]

I think I'd start by reading the ingredient list on a Nutella jar. This is the list:

Sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts (13%), cocoa powder (7.4%), non-fat milk solids, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavour (vanillin)

Toast the hazelnuts, then buzz them in the food processor with oil til you get a good smooth consistency. Then you can add the sugar and cocoa to get where you need to be. Not sure how you would add non fat milk solids...maybe skim milk powder?

​

Sounds like a plan. Try this.

 

[CharlieD]

I would agree that anything from dairy would not be "shelf safe" and would need to be refrigerated. Considering where I am standing with ingredients I will keep your observations of "I would stick with ground hazelnuts and high fat cocoa, adding in food grade cocoa butter and sugar to taste." for the next attempt of this. Thank you for your input.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

Well, the original Nutella does have dairy in it.


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[PrincessFiona60]

Well, the original Nutella does have dairy in it.


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But as "Dried Milk Solids", not fresh dairy.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Though pudding has a creamy mouth feel, it contains a significant amount of water in it. A spread made from pudding would cause anything it is spread on to become watery.

That being said, if the pudding mix were added dry to the ground nuts, and blended in, then mixed together with the butter, you would be getting the sugar, chocolate and milk solids from the pudding mix. That might just work. I wouldn't make the pudding and then add the other ingredients to it though.

I think ground hazelnuts added to a chocolate ganache, thinned with cream, would make a good Nuttela type spread.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Mad Cook]

Well, the original Nutella does have dairy in it.


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Yes, Charlie but commercial production uses methods and ingredients which can prevent or deter spoilage.

 

[CharlieD]

Yes, Charlie but commercial production uses methods and ingredients which can prevent or deter spoilage.

Exactly what I was trying to say, but as always was in too much of a hurry.


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[Zereh]

Why mess with mother nature?

Just grind hazelnuts until they reach "nut butter" consistency. Add the best powdered chocolate you find, to taste.

Eat by the spoonful. Use finger to get every last bit from the contain.

Repeat.

The extra ingredients are not added for taste, they're added to make the product more shelf-stable and to greatly decrease the cost of production.

=)
Z

 

[CharlieD]

Why mess with mother nature?

Just grind hazelnuts until they reach "nut butter" consistency. Add the best powdered chocolate you find, to taste.

Eat by the spoonful. Use finger to get every last bit from the contain.

Repeat.

The extra ingredients are not added for taste, they're added to make the product more shelf-stable and to greatly decrease the cost of production.

=)
Z

What would you use in home settings to grind the nuts to that consistency ?


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[Mad Cook]

What would you use in home settings to grind the nuts to that consistency ?


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I grind peanuts for peanut butter in the food processor until they look the right consistence so I suppose that would do for hazelnuts.

 

[Mad Cook]

Why mess with mother nature?

Just grind hazelnuts until they reach "nut butter" consistency. Add the best powdered chocolate you find, to taste.

Eat by the spoonful. Use finger to get every last bit from the contain.

Repeat.

The extra ingredients are not added for taste, they're added to make the product more shelf-stable and to greatly decrease the cost of production.

=)
Z

Or you could use melted chocolate with the ground nuts.

Although I'm not very fond of chocolate I can eat Nutella by the spoonful but the best choc & hazelnut spread used to be Green & Blacks but they got bought out and the new company discontinued it.