Peanutella

When I first tasted Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut spread), I fell in love.  I thought it might have been the circumstances - watching the sun rise over the Mediterranean Sea while sitting on my Egyptian friend's balcony in Alexandria.  She passed me the Nutella to spread on my flatbread for breakfast.  I was captivated with the first bite.  A year or so later, when I found Nutella at my Arizona grocery store, I bought it, thinking that I was probably going to feel let down by this product that I had built up in my mind.  But, no, it was just as good as I remembered. 

Ever since then, I have always had a jar of Nutella in my pantry.  I have used it in many ways - on bread, on fruit, as a dip, as a ganache, in a cheesecake, in milkshakes, etc.  Did you know you can save the gold papers on the top of the jar and redeem them for Nutella products?  I'm waiting on my Nutella t-shirt, and then I'll have everything in their boutique ;)  I know, it's excessive.

Yesterday, I came across this recipe on a blog I check every once in a while.  Home-made nutella.  Except substituting peanuts for the hazelnuts http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/01/chocolate-peanut-spread-peanutella/#more-7109  Of course I had to make this ASAP.  I went to our grocery store last night to get some peanut oil, and Trader Joe's this morning to buy the peanuts.  It was very easy to make.  First you roast the peanuts for a few minutes, then get out the blender. Well, I used my blender, but a food processor would work just as well.  Basically you blend the peanuts until they liquify, then add everything else and blend again. 

It will make a little bit of a sticky mess in your blender

But the final product is pretty good

It doesn't taste as sweet as Nutella.  Which makes sense, because the first ingredient listed on Nutella is sugar, but this peanutella has more peanuts than sugar.  Another difference is that peanutella is dairy-free, while Nutella has some skim milk and whey.  Plus Nutella has some artificial flavor - the only bad thing in peanutella is the powdered sugar.  The cost difference is in favor of peanutella, but not by a long ways.  I figured the cost of mine to be about $2 if I spread out the cost of the oil, peanuts, powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.  If you have to buy all of that up front it would probably be more like $11, but the peanut oil is the bulk of that price and the recipe only requires 2 tablespoons.  A jar of Nutella at my grocery store is on sale right now for $2.69, so it is cheaper to make the peanutella.  Plus the peanutella made about 1/2 cup more than a jar of Nutella.

All this being said, last week I mixed some natural, unsaltened and unsweetened, peanut butter with some nutella, about half and half.  This peanutella tastes just like it!  So, if you want to skip the slight mess and minimal time, just do that :)