Vegan Nutella {Mocha Hazelnut Spread}

This one’s for my mum.

With mother’s day around the corner, I wanted to come up with something that she couldn’t possibly say no to. My mother hasn’t had Nutella since 2003, which is when she was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Now she has severe lactose intolerance, which obviously means that she misses out on a lot of stuff that my dad and I (and to a lesser extent my sister) can enjoy. Since then I have taken it upon myself to transform recipes into dairy-free versions so that she too can enjoy them. I’ve come up with ways to create dairy-free versions of some of our favourite desserts like tiramisu, Swiss meringue buttercream, rum balls, Dairy-free Hazelnut chocolate mousse, brownies etc.

Here’s another one to add to that list. Vegan Nutella {Chocolate Hazelnut Spread with a hint of Coffee}!

Mother’s day was just another day when I was growing up. Especially in Sri Lanka, we never really celebrated it. But I get it though. That whole idea of having a special day for that someone or something. I totally get it. Which is why when I have kids one day, I want the whole shebang! Breakfast in bed, chocolate, hand-made cards, crafts, gifts.. all of it! Muwahahaha!

And as far as Nutella goes, I personally have a love-hate relationship with it. I mean I love it. I love it so much, that I hate myself for it! 😀 I could eat an entire jar in one sitting. And when I say I could, I mean I have! It happened once a few years ago with a small jar of Nutella (thankfully). And I vowed to myself that it would never happen again. That stuff is pure evil! When I think of Nutella, I think of a secret lab, with maximum security, where they make this stuff with (which I’m sure are) magic ingredients. I mean it’s so delicious and addictive, I’m not sure why it isn’t illegal yet?

In Sri Lanka, it was quite rarely that I got to taste Nutella because it wasn’t readily available there (gasp!), but every time I did have it, it was an occasion to celebrate! 🙂 Every slice of toast with a thick layer of Nutella spread was savoured as if it was my last meal. And not knowing when I could have it again was the stuff of nightmares.

So here I am, back in the present, sharing this recipe with you for dairy free Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) that is full of hazelnut and chocolate flavours and has a hint of coffee. It’s not the classic Nutella of course (remember I don’t have a secret facility, with a secret lab, and magic ingredients to make the original), but Mr K and I loved it just the same!

I used hazelnut oil in this recipe, to make the spread less thick. However if you have a very powerful food processor, you wouldn’t need the oil, or you could just use a minimal amount. It can also be substituted with a neutral oil of your choice (not olive oil). What you see in the pictures is the consistency that I liked. But you can make it slightly thicker to resemble the original.

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5 from 2 votes

Dairy Free Nutella

Author: Dini K.

This is an improved dairy-free version of Nutella! It's a Dairy Free Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread, but also has a hint of coffee that makes it even more delicious!

Cook: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Print Rate

Ingredients:

• ▢ 10.5 oz/ 300g roasted and skinned hazelnuts
• ▢ 3 tbsp natural cocoa powder
• ▢ 1 tsp heaped instant coffee granules
• ▢ 5 oz / 140 g dairy free bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ hazelnut oil or a neutral oil, to make the spread less thick if necessary

Instructions:

• Place the roasted hazelnuts and salt in the food processor and start running it on low speed until the hazelnuts are chopped.
• Increase the speed until the hazelnuts have been chopped finely, and then become a paste. This will take a few minutes, and you will have to scrape the sides of your food processor from time to time.
• When the hazelnuts have been processed into a smooth paste, add the cocoa powder, instant coffee, melted chocolate and 3 tbsp of the brown sugar. Process on high speed for a couple of minutes until everything is mixed through.
• Taste and add more sugar IF it's not sweet enough to your liking.
• If the paste is too thick, add oil 1 tsp at a time while running the food processor, until you get the desired consistency.

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

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I absolutely love the strong hazelnut and chocolate flavours in this spread. You can leave out the chocolate chips and add another tablespoon (or two) of cocoa powder, but I love the creaminess that the chocolate chips add to the paste. The cocoa powder on the other hand gives this paste a slight powder-like quality, which I don’t mind, but too much of it wouldn’t be that great. So that’s why I used melted chocolate instead of extra cocoa powder.

As amazing as the original Nutella is, I KNOW that my mum and my sister are going to love this dairy-free nutella version! It’s a great substitute for those who can’t have the real thing. Mr. K usually eats his cereal in the morning with some almond butter, but as long as we have this in the house, the almond butter has no place in his breakfast. So now, I need to make this for my mum. The only problem is she lives half way around the world, in New Zealand. My sister has work to do this weekend.

By the way this spread was awesome on bread! Especially on soft, buttery, toasted bread slices…. that you’re going to hear all about very soon (tomorrow!), so be sure to come back for that! 🙂 Like this Amazingly soft, rich & DAIRY FREE BRIOCHE BREAD! Yep! This bread was so good, Mr K likes this better than the regular brioche!

I used both, this spread and the dairy free brioche bread to create the ultimate dairy free french toast breakfast fit for Mother’s Day or any special occasion! Basil infused Dairy free Brioche French Toast stuffed with this delicious Mocha Hazelnut spread!

Till then, You can also check out this Caramelized Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse that tastes like Nutella & can be made Dairy-Free too!

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