HAZELNUT CREAM recipe
To address the long-standing debate about whether the industrial Hazelnut Cream of any brand or ‘THE’ most famous Hazelnut cream we all know or the one from a small artisan is better, today I will try to convince you that homemade is entirely different.
Sure, the industrial ones are delicious, delightful, inviting: but just imagine the satisfaction of preparing it with your own hands.
Why will you love it?
It is GENUINE and made exclusively with natural ingredients: toasted hazelnuts, milk, chocolate, a little bit of seed oil, and sugar.
DOES NOT contain neither preservatives nor additives.
It has a COARSER TEXTURE which in my opinion makes it even more delicious because you can feel the presence of HAZELNUTS.
It is EASY and QUICK to prepare, just put hazelnuts and milk in the blender, transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the other ingredients, and mix.
The homemade HAZELNUT CREAM is a unique delight to enjoy both at breakfast spread on toast, at snack time, or as a filling for cakes, doughnuts, or pies.
Here you will also find the VIDEO RECIPE and all the tricks to make it step by step, and the best part is it will be ready in just a few minutes!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 231.80 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 19.55 (g) of which sugars 16.01 (g)
- Proteins 2.90 (g)
- Fat 16.68 (g) of which saturated 4.32 (g)of which unsaturated 11.52 (g)
- Fibers 2.10 (g)
- Sodium 3.79 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz toasted hazelnuts
- 1 cup cups whole milk
- 5.3 oz 55% dark chocolate
- 2.6 oz gianduja chocolate (or milk chocolate)
- 4 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
- 3.5 oz powdered sugar
Tools
- Blender
- Bowl
- Spatula
Note
For this recipe, I used toasted hazelnuts. You can also use regular hazelnuts that you will need to toast in the oven for about 10 minutes at 212°F.
Put the toasted hazelnuts in the blender cup along with the warm milk and blend for at least 1 minute.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add both types of chocolate previously melted in the microwave or in a double boiler, the seed oil, and the powdered sugar and mix with a spatula to blend.
Pour the HAZELNUT CREAM into a jar and let it solidify in the fridge for about 1 – 2 hours. Your HAZELNUT CREAM is ready to be spread on bread or eaten by the spoonful!
NOTE
TEXTURE Do not worry if it is initially liquid; it needs at least a night to become thick. Additionally, this homemade spreadable cream will be more granular compared to the industrial one, and it will also depend on the type of blender you own. If you have a Thermomix that pulverizes hazelnuts, the spread will be smoother and more velvety. Regardless of the appliance used, the taste remains unchanged; it is just a difference in ‘texture.’ Once solidified, the cream may coagulate into lumps or harden. Do not worry, it’s normal: slightly heat the oven, turn it off, and put the cream jar inside. In a few minutes, you will see it return to being nice and fluid without lumps
HAZELNUTS For this recipe, I used toasted hazelnuts. You can also use regular hazelnuts that you will need to toast in the oven for about 10 minutes at 212°F. Once in the blender, they will reduce to a paste. As explained in the preface, starting from whole hazelnuts, the texture will never be as smooth as industrial Hazelnut Creams. If you prefer a smoother texture, replace the hazelnuts with the same quantity of pure HAZELNUT PASTE which you can find in specialized stores or online.
CHOCOLATE: I used 55% dark chocolate and gianduja chocolate because I prefer a hazelnut cream not too bitter. If you prefer it less sweet, you can replace the dark chocolate with a 75% percentage and the gianduja chocolate with milk chocolate.
SUGAR: Since it is essentially a ‘cold’ preparation, I preferred using powdered sugar over granulated sugar, which would struggle to dissolve and remain as crystals. You can try using sugar syrup to avoid traces of it in the cream, but it would increase the final liquidity.
SEED OIL Industrial preparations are so velvety because they are made with pure hazelnut paste which is very oily. In this preparation starting from whole toasted hazelnuts, it is therefore essential to add a part of seed oil. If you prefer, you can replace it with cold-extracted rice oil which is light and tasteless.
STORAGE
This homemade Hazelnut Cream without preservatives or stabilizers must be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed jar. It can last up to 10 days.
