Did you know that February 5th was World Nutella Day?… Until recently, me either… It wasn’t until I noticed a pattern of recipes emerge (some using the spread, some making their own homemade version of it), that I became aware something was up.

In my pre-vegan days, I loved Nutella… And I’ll be honest, sometimes I still miss it, but not because I want to eat it out of the jar with a big spoon (not that I’m saying that ever happened ). No, I miss it because bouncing around Pinterest I keep getting inspired by these great ideas that use it as their feature ingredient. Just because I’m vegan, doesn’t mean I don’t want to join in the chocolaty hazelnut fun! So, like many before me, I began my DIY Nutella journey.

Do a quick search on chocolate-hazelnut butter and you’ll find that just about every food blog has their own version of this spread. I’ve tried quite a few, and some are very good too, but there seems to be one glaring oversight. Not every kitchen is lucky enough to have a food processor, yet I can not recall seeing one recipe that did not require the use of this gadget. I decided that needed to change.

Thinking back to my Nutella days, recalling textures and flavours, I came to the conclusion that Nutella is not much more than chocolate hazelnut ganache. That’s when everything just fell into place, and I came up with the idea to combine store bought hazelnut butter with chocolate ganache… mmm, chocolate ganache. Can’t go wrong with that

Easy Chocolate-Hazelnut Butter

1/3 cup Non-Dairy Creamer (I used So Nice)

1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

5 tbsp Hazelnut Butter, well stirred (I used store bought)

2 tsp Agave Nectar

1/16 tsp Salt

In a saucepan, over high heat, bring creamer and salt to a simmer. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. If needed, return saucepan to burner and warm over low heat, stirring constantly (be careful not to burn the chocolate).

Add hazelnut butter and agave to chocolate mixture. Stir until thoroughly blended and smooth (again, returning to heat if needed).

Spoon into container (with a tight fitting lid) and place in refrigerator to cool. Do not cover (to prevent condensation residue).

After about an hour in the refrigerator, you will probably notice the mixture had separated a bit. Give it a good stir, and it will smooth back out. Cover and return to refrigerator.

Let the spread set for several more hours or over night.

Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 1 cup.