Homemade cocoa and hazelnut cream

How to make a chocolate cream spread.

I must confess that I am more of Nocilla than Nutella , it seems that between these two products there is an open war similar to that of soccer, or you are from Madrid or Barça, Seville or Betis, Depor or Celta …

Something similar happens in food, there are many brands of a lifetime that cannot be replaced by white brands, because it is true that they do not taste the same, it happens to me with Colacao and others with Nesquik.

Although I grew up with snacks from a village chorizo ​​sandwich, mortadella with olives, Chaparro chocolate, Galician tetilla cheese … from time to time I played a Fabiola bread sandwich (it was prepared by Blanca from the Orchapan bakery that we had under the house ) with nocilla  How good was that day! He ate the sandwich slowly, slowly … to make it last longer, licking the edges until it was over.

That nocilla that I remember as a child is not the same as now, it does not taste the same, I assure you, they changed the recipe years ago and now it is much sweeter.

Since then I am open to other cocoa and hazelnut creams , in fact my girlfriend likes Nutella more and in the end, as you send, at home she eats … Nutella.

About a year ago, Grandma Pilar let me try a milk cream, cocoa, hazelnuts and sugar (sound familiar?) That she makes herself, that intense chocolate flavor but balanced with hazelnut seemed delicious to me. Now at home we prepare a 70% cocoa chocolate cream , in which half of the mixture is hazelnut paste.

The result is a cream of your favorite chocolate with a very simple preparation, the texture is less fine but the one that the test repeats.

The measures have been evolving this year and may be different next year, but they are based on the song from the announcement,  “♪ Milk, cocoa, hazelnuts and sugar … Nooociiillaaaaa” .

You will have a cream that you can take for breakfast or snack but also to fill your chocolates or homemade pastries. Do not miss the opportunity to try this recipe.

Preparation of hazelnut cream

1. We will use hazelnuts already toasted, if the ones you have bought are raw you can toast them either in the oven or in a pan.
   • Oven: preheat it to 160º, heat up and down. We spread the hazelnuts on a tray and bake for 20 minutes, moving them from time to time so that they are toasted on all sides.
   • Skillet: although there are no equal toasts, the process is faster and easier. We put them on the frying pan in cold and heat to medium temperature, we move them continuously so that they do not burn and when we see that they give off that rich smell of hazelnut oil and they are lightly toasted we remove them.
2. We remove the skin that remains.
3. We pass the hazelnuts to a mincer, the typical one that comes with the mixer and that we all have at home.
4. Chop the hazelnuts for about 5 minutes, so that the hazelnut releases the oil it takes and makes a paste.
5. I recommend doing a lot (300 g and up) because if we add less, the machine may not catch the hazelnuts with the blades and it won’t turn out well.
6. This pasta is incredible and we can use it in many desserts.
7. We can keep it in a glass jar and leave it in the fridge.
8. It lasts for weeks and will not get bad, as the oil separates from the paste, but you just have to move it again to be able to use it.

Preparation of cocoa and hazelnut cream

1. We chose the chocolate to use, I use 70% cocoa, but if you like it with more power on the market, you have chocolates of up to 99%.
2. If, on the other hand, you prefer them softer, remember that it is necessary to have at least 55% cocoa base. And it is because the recipe has milk chocolate and condensed milk that lowers the flavor.
3. We chop the two types of chocolate, 70% and milk chocolate. The finer we chop or grate it, the better it will melt.
4. We heat the chopped chocolate in a bain-marie over low heat, almost lukewarm, without stirring with the rods until we obtain a homogeneous and smooth cream.
5. We should not heat the chocolate more than necessary, 3-4 minutes will be enough.
6. We remove from the fire and let it temper. If you do not want to do it in a water bath, you can use the microwave, melting the chocolate in fractions of half a minute at minimum temperature so that it does not burn us.
7. Add the condensed milk and the tablespoon of vanilla essence.
8. We stir until we have a homogeneous cream and add the hazelnut paste.
9. We give a few touches of mincer to mix all the cream well until we see that it is completely integrated.

We fill some glass jars and let cool in the fridge.

Tips for a yummy cocoa cream

• You can keep it in the fridge for about two weeks, although I’m sure you’ll eat it in less than one. It only remains to toast a few slices of bread and spread. Take advantage!
• These ingredients make a perfect cream for the home, but you can vary them to your liking, on occasion we have added roasted almonds to the hazelnuts and it is also very delicious.
• Regarding the original recipe of the grandmother Pilar, we have changed the whole milk with sugar for condensed milk because we saw that it was much easier to mix, and that it helps better its conservation.