This Healthy Homemade Nutella should really be called Cocoa Almond Butter, but the promise of a healthy nutella is just too tempting.
In this recipe I use almonds for their wonderful health and energy benefits, and strong cocoa and sticky date syrup for their full flavour and natural sweetness. Dates are full of vitamins and minerals and are excellent for energy and the digestion, so they make a good choice as a healthy sweetener.
If you have a food processor then it’s easy to make the almond butter, you just have to have the patience to keep processing until it reaches the required consistency. Otherwise you can cheat and buy very good almond butters in any good whole food shop. Then it’s just a case of combining these lovely ingredients into a gorgeous sticky rich treat that actually is very good for you – really!
I made pots of this wonderful confection for Easter presents, it’s a lovely gooey chocolate marzipan, such a treat spread on warm toast or even straight from the pot on a spoon!
- 2 cups of almonds (use blanched if you want it smooth )
- ¼ cup good quality cocoa powder
- ½ cup of date syrup
- A dash of vanilla essence (optional)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil (if required )
- Process the almonds until they start to form a nut butter , scraping down the sides a couple of times as you go.
- It will be dry and crumbly at first, but keep on pulsing and it will gradually form a creamy, smoother paste.
- If it looks a little too dry then add the coconut oil to help blend it together.
- Then add the date syrup, vanilla and cocoa powder and blend a little more.
- Scrape the fudgey mixture out and keep in a glass jar.
- I keep mine in the fridge, but it's alway best served at room temperature so that it softens up a little first.
Could I use maple syrup instead of date syrup?
Absolutely! Maple syrup would work just as well. When you first make this in the food processor, the ingredients blend very well, but I do find that after a few days you need to give it a good stir to make sure it doesn’t start to separate.
I love the idea of this healthy Nutella. Do you think I could use whole dates insteaf of the syrup?
Yes, if you soak them first to soften and make them into a paste first it should be fine! 🙂
Ok thanks, going to try it!