Learn how to easily make your own creamy Hazelnut Butter at home and then make it even more delicious by adding a touch of Dark Chocolate to it! Breakfast will never be the same… 

The day I realized just how easy it was to make nut butter at home, I started making my own all the time. Especially the fancy ones! Cuz you know, specialty nut butters, they cost SO MUCH to buy at the store. And hazelnut butter, it definitely falls in that category. 

But despair not! I’m about to show you how to make your very own hazelnut butter, that’ll taste just as good if not better, for a fraction of the price! 

Not only that, but we’ll also be kicking things up a notch… Tell me, can you think of anything that tastes better than toasted hazelnuts? Toasted hazelnuts AND chocolate, of course! 

So if like me, you are a Nutella lover, you totally have to go all out and make the dark chocolate version, too. Trust me, you won’t regret it. I mean, that stuff is G.O.O.D., as in absolutely insane good. It’s not Nutella, because to recreate that evil treat, one would probably need to use TONS of nasty fat and sugar, but I am telling you, THIS is just AS good, if not better.

So do yourself a favor and buy a big bag of hazelnuts today!

Oh, and you might want to consider making a double batch, just sayin…

Hazelnuts on a baking sheet

Now, to make your hazelnut butter really nice and creamy, you’ll want to remove the skins from the nuts, because they are kind of dry, tough and fibrous.

The best and easiest way to do that is to place your hazelnuts on a large baking sheet and toast them for 10 to 12 minutes in a 375°F oven.

Then, remove the toasted nuts from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes, until you can safely handle them with your bare hands.

Hazelnuts in a clean tea towel

Once your hazelnuts have had a few minutes to cool, transfer them to a clean dish towel… 

Hazelnuts in a tea towel that's been made into a baluchon

… and then bring all 4 corners of the towel together to form a little bundle. 

Hazelnuts are being rubbed against each other to remove their skins

Hold that bundle in one hand and, with the other hand, wiggle the nuts around so that they grind against each other.  The friction will cause the skins to detach from the nuts. 

Go at it fairly passionately, too… you’ll see that those skins, they are pretty clingy and will refuse to go without a fight!

Toasted hazelnuts after their skins have been removed

Do that for a good minute or two, and when you open up your little bundle, all your nuts will be totally naked! Alright, a few of them might be more on the prude side and will desperately hang on to any piece of skin that they possibly can.

You can let them have their way… A little bit of skin has never killed anyone! 😉

The skins that get left behind after hazelnuts have been rid of them

Now all that’s left to do is delicately remove all the hazelnuts, being careful as to leave all the skins behind.

See how much of them got removed? Imagine all that in your nut butter!!! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have it in mine… 

Toasted skinned hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor

Once the skins are gone, the hardest part is behind you. All that’s left to do now is transfer the skinless toasted hazelnuts to the bowl of your food processor and process the nuts until they turn into this beautiful, luscious, creamy and velvety hazelnut butter.

Hazelnuts reduced to a fine powder in the bowl of a food processor

Hazelnuts are fairly easy to work with. They will start releasing their oil and turn into butter rather quickly: the whole process should take roughly about 5 minutes.

After about 1 minute, your nuts will be reduced to a fine powder like the one in the photo. Give that bowl a little scrape and keep going…

Hazelnut butter in the making

Another minute down the road, the powder is starting to turn to something that resembles wet sand. Not yet quite what we’re after… Scrape, and keep going!

Hazelnut butter in the making

Another minute in. Now that sand is turning into what’s starting to look like thick cement. Ugh! Definitely not what we’re after, but do not despair! Just keep those blades spinning!

Hazelnut butter in the making

Ah! Finally, it looks like we’re going somewhere. This mixture would almost qualify as official nut butter. But it’s not creamy enough yet. We’re going for smooooooth!

Another minute or two should totally do the trick! Give that bowl one more good scraping ant turn that motor back on!

Hazelnut butter in the making

And there we have it! This is totally what we’re after! 

This batch makes enough Hazelnut Butter to fill two 8oz Mason jars, so at this point, you have 3 options:

  • Make only the all natural hazelnut butter
  • Make one jar of all natural and one jar of dark chocolate 
  • Make only the dark chocolate 

If you choose to make only the natural version, then that’s it, you’re done! Simply transfer your nut butter to clean glass jars…

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut butter in the making

If you want to make one jar of each, then transfer about half of the natural hazelnut butter to a 8oz Mason jar and then, to what’s left in the food processor, add 3 tablespoons of coconut sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

If you want to make only the dark chocolate version, then add double the amount of coconut sugar and cocoa powder to the entire batch of hazelnut butter. 

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut butter in the making

Now resume processing until the cocoa powder and coconut sugar are well incorporated, about 30 seconds.

You might want to stop and scrape the sides once in the process to make sure the mix is well combined.

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut butter is being poured into a glass jar

Transfer your now finished Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Butter to an 8oz glass jar, or two if you elected to make only this version.

Learn how to easily make your own creamy Hazelnut Butter at home and then make it even more delicious by adding a touch of Dark Chocolate to it! Breakfast will never be the same...

And now for the hardest part: no matter which version you chose to make, you should totally let your jars of hazelnut butter rest until the next day before you even taste them, to allow their flavor to fully develop.

In your dreams, the nut butters will keep for several weeks at room temperature or several months in the refrigerator.

In reality, they won’t last a week… 

Learn how to easily make your own creamy Hazelnut Butter at home and then make it even more delicious by adding a touch of Dark Chocolate to it! Breakfast will never be the same...
Learn how to easily make your own creamy Hazelnut Butter at home and then make it even more delicious by adding a touch of Dark Chocolate to it! Breakfast will never be the same...
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4.53 from 17 votes

Natural and Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 22 minutes
Learn how to easily make your own creamy Hazelnut Butter at home and then make it even more delicious by adding a touch of Dark Chocolate to it! Breakfast will never be the same… 
Servings: 32

Ingredients

For Dark Chocolate Version*

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 375°F; spread the hazelnuts onto a large baking sheet and put them in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. 
  • Remove the toasted nuts from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes, until you can safely handle them with your bare hands. 
  • Transfer the warm nuts to a clean tea towel and bring all 4 corners of the towel together to form a little bundle. Hold that bundle in one hand and, with the other hand, wiggle the nuts around for a few minutes so that they grind against each other. The friction will cause the skins to fall off the nuts.
  • Transfer the nuts to the bowl of your food processor, being careful to leave all the skins behind. Add the salt and process on high speed, scraping the bowl from time to time, until the nuts turn into a creamy butter, about 5 minutes total.
  • Transfer about half of this nut butter to an 8oz glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Mason jars work beautifully!*
  • Add cacao powder and coconut sugar to the remaining hazelnut butter and process until well incorporated, about 30 seconds. You might want to scrape the sides once in the process to make sure the mix is well combined.
  • Transfer to another 8oz glass jar with a tight fitting lid.
  • Let your nut butters rest until the next day to allow their flavor to fully develop. They will keep for several weeks at room temperature or several months in the refrigerator. 

Notes

*If you wanted to make the whole batch dark chocolate, simply double the amount of cocoa powder and coconut sugar and add them to the whole batch of hazelnut butter once it has reached a smooth consistency. 

Nutrition

Calories: 98kcal, Carbohydrates: 3g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 9g, Sodium: 20mg, Potassium: 107mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 5IU, Vitamin C: 0.9mg, Calcium: 18mg, Iron: 0.8mg
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Author: Sonia! The Healthy Foodie

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*Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September of 2011 and has since been completely revamped and updated with better pictures. A few minor modifications to the original recipe may also have been made.