Date & Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

Welcome to heaven

To be honest, I was never really a fan of store-bought chocolate spreads because even as a child, I found them way too sweet. My mum then found a healthier version from some organic store, and it had a noticeably stronger hazelnut taste. Making such spreads at home is obviously the ultimate solution because you have full control about how hazelnutty, chocolaty and sweet you’d like your spread to be. Alright, let’s see how it’s done!

Servings: 1 jar (about 350g)

Total time: 20 min

For the spread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (200g) hazelnuts

3/4 cup (100g) dates, soaked in hot water for 15 min

1/4 cup (30g) cocoa 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp date soaking water

pinch of sea salt 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool, then remove the skins by rubbing the nuts in a tea towel. 

2. Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse until a creamy nut butter has formed (I find that this works a lot quicker with hazelnuts than for example with almonds, maximum 5 minutes). 

3. Drain the dates but keep some of the water aside. Add the dates to the hazelnut butter along with a pinch of salt, vanilla extract and cacao. Blend it all together until smooth and then add some of the date water until a smooth, spreadable consistency is achieved. 

4. Congratulations, my fellow foodie, you just whipped together your own delicious chocolate spread that might not survive the weekend! You can eat this on a slice of bread, dip apple wedges into it, spread it onto a dried fig or eat it straight off the spoon (I am certainly guilty of the latter).