When we first went gluten free, one of the first things that we found that was safe to eat was a chocolate-hazelnut spread made by Nutella.
It was a new product to us and it made those first few gluten free sandwiches (on bread that was definitely not as good as Udi's) that much better.
In addition to being gluten free, I have a dairy allergy. The Nutella that you purchase contains dairy, so it was a treat for my kids to enjoy but not me.
A while back, I was reading David Lebovitz's blog - he is really my favorite blogger. Partly because the Gluten Free Teen and I are having some kind of love affair with Paris which David writes about regularly. But even if you do not need to have the experience of visiting Paris through David's blog, David provides off-the-wall recipes that you may not normally try and beautiful photography.
David had a recipe for homemade Nutella. His, of course, contained dairy. But once I read the recipe, I knew I had to try and make it dairy free as well.
Here is my Dairy Free rendition of David's naturally gluten free Nutella:
Gluten and Dairy Free Nutella
Ingredients:
1/3 cup whole almonds
1 1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup almond milk
3/4 cup powdered dairy free powder - I used DariFree Non Dairy Milk Alternative.
3 tablespoons mild-flavored honey
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 pinch of salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips - I used Enjoy Life Dairy and Gluten Free Chocolate Chips
1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the almonds separate, and toast the nuts in a 325ºF oven, stirring a few times, for 15 minutes or until the hazelnuts are browned. (David recommended a 350 degree oven, but my nuts were almost burning at this temperature so I turned it down to 325.)
2. While they are roasting, whisk the powdered milk into the almond milk and warm in a small saucepan with the honey, sugar, coconut oil and salt just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat.
3. Melt the chocolates together until smooth. You can do this in a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in the microwave. If using a microwave, heat for 25 seconds and stir, and repeat until smooth.
4. Once the nuts are well-toasted, remove them from oven and remove as much of the loose skin as you can. David recommends rubbing them in a clean tea towel. I found it easier to wait until they were cool, and simply rubbing them together in my hands over the kitchen sink. Remove as much of the loose skin as you can, but they don’t need to be pristine.
5. In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts and almonds until they’re as fine as possible. Mine turned into a paste-like consistency.
6. Add the melted chocolate and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
7. Once the mixture is smooth, add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well-combined.
9. Transfer into two jars and refrigerate until ready to use.
Spread on some Udi bread or combine with a smear of almond butter on a Glutino cracker.
Want to purchase premade Nutella - the Nutella website states that it's product is gluten free. I also called to ask about cross-contamination and costumer service informed me there were no gluten ingredients and no chance for cross-contamination.
It is hard to put up recipes about Chocolate Sandwiches when so much of the world seems in utter chaos right now. The rest of us have to keep going, but my heart and prayers are with those struggling through all of the recent world disasters.
