It’s no secret that my favorite food is Nutella.  My death row meal would be a jar of Nutella, a box of Nilla Wafers, and enough Diet Coke to kill me before the firing squad did the job.  I’ve always wanted to make my own Nutella and I finally got around to it.  Why, oh why have I been buying it all this time?  It was so very easy to put together and one recipe made about two jars worth for half the price.  I used the recipe published here by David Lebovitz.  He does such a good job detailing the recipe that there really isn’t a need to repeat the steps here.  I do have a couple changes and comments.

-I didn’t have any almonds, so I used a couple tablespoons of pecans to balance the 1.5 cups of hazelnuts I found.  Speaking of, finding hazelnuts was hard!  I checked a couple groceries and a specialty shop only to come up empty.  I finally ran across them accidentally in the baking aisle of Super Target, of all places.  If I’d been thinking I would have gone to one of the three Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi groceries within three miles of my house – they always have hazelnuts!

-While I used whole milk, I used non-fat milk powder instead of the whole milk powder and it worked just fine.  I think it is an acceptable substitute.

-I used 4 oz of my precious Callebaut dark chocolate and the balance of semi-sweet chocolate chips, because that’s all the chocolate I had in the house.

-Like Mr. Lebovitz, I didn’t strain the mixture and it is a little sandy.  No matter how long I ran those nuts through my food processor, they did not make a smooth paste.  But I’m digging the little chunks – they add an element of texture and taste that would be missing if I strained it.  If you do choose to strain the mixture, you’ll have to use something very fine like a chinoise or even cheesecloth because the fine nut powder will go right through a standard strainer.  The mixture is very thin when you finish up, but it firms in the fridge in a couple hours.  Then dig in.  This stuff is like crack – I can’t get enough.  I’ll be freezing some of the bounty, we’ll see how it freezes.

I decided as a special treat to make a batch of my mom’s amazing scones to use as a vehicle to get the homemade Nutella into my mouth.  Because peaches are currently in season, fresh, and I can get them locally, I decided on peach scones.  Her recipe follows.

2 c flour

1/3 c sugar plus more for sprinkling

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 T (1 stick, or half a cup) cold butter, cut into pieces

1/2 c sour cream

1 egg

1/2 c fruit, nuts, chocolate, or other goodies (today it was peaches)

I’ve found the fastest way to do this is to pulse all the dry ingredients in a food processor.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Add the egg and sour cream, pulse until it starts to combine.  If you don’t want to use the food processor, combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Combine the sour cream and egg in a separate bowl – add to the dry mixture and combine until the dough just starts to form.  No matter which way you made the dough, turn it out onto a floured counter.  Add the fruit/nuts/chocolate by pressing it into the dough by hand as you form the dough into a disk.  Cut into 8 pieces and lay on a greased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350 for about 17 minutes.  Slather with homemade Nutella and enjoy!