Oh. My. Gosh!
This recipe for Homemade Keto Nutella looks amazing! And so easy to make! You can BET I’m going to be whipping up this recipe asap! I’ll definitely write up a post of my experience and thoughts on how it turns out for you when I get this made. But for now, just watching this brilliant video by one of my favorite YouTubers, Heavenly Fan, makes my mouth water!
I kind of think the title of this video is a little misleading, though. Because it’s not REALLY a video describing what she eats in a day. Though she does mention the sticky noodles she ate earlier on. I have to confess, I haven’t tried those noodles yet, either. More research and sampling of low-carb pasta is in my future. I usually just make zucchini noodles (zoodles!)
HOMEMADE HAZELNUT NUTELLA
I don’t know about you, but Nutella is one of those foods I never even considered making at home. Honestly, I don’t eat the stuff. Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE IT! And that’s precisely why I don’t eat it. Because, for me, anyhow, that chocolate nutty paste is freaking addictive! I can literally eat it by the spoonful! And since it’s so high in fat (and normally, sugar, too) I’ve been of the opinion that not only is it not a healthy food for me, but I expected it would pack on the pounds.
I was first introduced to Nutella when living in Germany as a military spouse back in the early 80’s. I think it is originally a German food. Oops! Nope! I was wrong! I just searched online and discovered this on Wikipedia – “Nutella is a brand of sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread, manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, and was first introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963.” Wow. That is so interesting! You learn something new every day.
Anyhow, if you’re following a whole foods diet, the commercial brand is probably not very healthy for you. Let’s look at the ingredients – (again, from the Wikipedia page)
“The main ingredients of Nutella are sugar and palm oil (greater than 50%).” So, terrible for your health, right out the gate. Let me get this right…the commercial version of this yummy-tasting chocolate and nut cream is more than HALF sugar and palm oil?? Omg.
LET’S CONTINUE…
“It also contains hazelnut at 13% (how thoughtful), cocoa solids, and skimmed milk. In the United States and the United Kingdom, Nutella contains soy products.” Oh, so in addition to 50%+ of the ingredients being sugar and palm oil, in the USA and Britain we also get soy products? Ok, Carry on…
“In November 2017, the company modified the recipe slightly, increasing the sugar and skimmed milk powder content.” Oh great.
“The traditional Piedmont recipe, gianduja, was a mixture containing approximately 71.5% hazelnut paste and 19.5% chocolate.” So, the original recipe was 91% hazelnuts and chocolate? Sounds to me like Heavenly Fan’s recipe is MUCH closer to the original creation!
And it looks super easy to make! And you gotta know that stuff’s going to be delicious!
Even better, if you’re following a high-fat ketogenic diet, then this stuff is going to fit right into your plan! You can feel completely good about consuming this homemade version of Nutella. I mean, dark chocolate (the no/low sugar, 85% cacao or higher version) has incredible health benefits. See this article dated December 22, 2021 from Sci-News.com suggesting that “dark chocolate has prebiotic effects by restructuring the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome, which may in turn improve mood via the gut-brain axis.” Or this article from HealthLine describing the fact that dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health, is one of the best sources of antioxidants you can find, and that studies show dark chocolate can improve your health and lower the risk of heart disease.” WHAT??
And I don’t know about the nutrients in hazelnuts…so, let’s find out!
NUTRITION IN HAZELNUTS
According to myfooddata.com 1 oz. (21 kernels) of Hazelnuts contains:
178 calories
9% Protein (4.2g)
81% Fat (17g)
10% Carbs (4.7g)
2.8g Fiber (so only 1.9g Net Carbs per serving)
1.2g Sugar
0g Sodium
32mg Calcium
1.8mg Vitamin C
1.3mg Iron
193.1mg Potassium
82.4mg Phosphorus
46.3mg Magnesium
0.7mg Zinc
4.3mg Vitamin E
IN CONCLUSION
I really enjoyed this video for healthy, homemade Hazelnut Nutella! She makes the recipe look so simple and delicious! And this nutritious sweet can be an awesome new addition to your whole foods, healthy ketogenic diet plan! And if you’re following a plant-based diet, as I am, this recipe is also a BIG WIN with zero animal products! Yay!
I highly recommend you give it a try! And the berry parfait she puts together using the chocolate hazelnut cream looks DIVINE!
Enjoy! And be sure to let me know if you try this, and what your opinion is!