Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Decadent and addictive Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread with just five ingredients, made silky smooth with the help of a melanger.

Inspiration

I love gifting edible goodies, and spreads like this Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread are perfect. Not only are they addictively delish, they generally have good shelf-life, so can be made in advance.

I love a good chocolate-hazelnut pairing, but I am not a fan of the popular hazelnut spread sold in North America. That probably puts me in the minority, which is fine, as I've never really concerned myself with popularity.

Years ago, after licking clean, a tiny jar of Crema di Cioccolato di Sicilia (Sicilian Chocolate Cream), while waiting for my luggage to find me, I thought to myself... this is what that popular spread should aim to be when it grows up! Notably missing from the short list of ingredients...palm oil.

Hazel... You, Nut!

First off, you don't look like a Filbert and so I'll never refer to you by that name. My way of honouring your voluptuous, monounsaturated, vitamin and mineral rich figure, dear Hazel(nut). Ok, enough of my nonsense.

You can make life easier by purchasing hazelnuts stripped down to their blanched birthday suit, but that leaves nothing to the imagination - and I have a wildly active imagination... I sometimes buy mine either fully clothed (shells), but more often partially dressed (skins).

Whichever stage of undress you choose, you'll want to roast them to deepen and intensify their flavour and add crunch. Around fifteen minutes at 350º, under watchful eyes to avoid burning, is all it takes. A little rub in a towel, while still warm, will effectively expose their tasty, tanned complexion.

Silky, Smooth Spreads

For years, I used my food processor or blender to whip up nut butters, spreads and the like (I even tried bean to bar chocolate making with a food processor...not so great). The results have been good for butter and spreads, but if you are looking to step up your game, a melanger/refiner should be at the top of your bday/xmas gift list.

This was a birthday gift to support my chocolate exploits. Years ago, when I decided to take my interest in chocolate to another level, by enrolling in culinary school part-time, the idea of bean to bar always lingered. As someone who derives great pleasure from creating from scratch, b2b is right up my alley. But I digress...

I put my refiner/melanger to use almost immediately; this Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread was one of the first things I whipped up. So much smoother compared to spreads made in my blender or food processor. The refiner takes care of the texture by grinding the nuts down to less than 20 microns. Not bad for a piece of countertop equipment that is about the size of a large stock pot.

Spread The Love

This batch of Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, adapted from Dandelion Chocolate, is simply delish, with only four ingredients - five, if you choose to add the cinnamon as I did - and no added oil.

You can get creative with various nuts, chocolates and other inclusions to create unique flavour combinations. So far, I've tested four flavours that I'll be gifting. I have about a hundred more floating around my head, some of which I plan to make for the holidays!

Spread Stabilization

The Dandelion recipe did not specify this step and I did not show it in the video below, but for a more stable spread, I added 1% cocoa butter silk to the spread once it was out of the refiner and cooled.

I'll put a post together of my bean to bar adventures, when I feel like I have something worth sharing. In the meantime, here is a video of me making this sinfully delicious Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Spread!