Hazelnut Cocoa Spread

📝 Ingredients

• 80 g whole hazelnuts
• 12 g unsweetened cocoa powder (2 tbsp)
• 30 g runny honey
• 40 ml semi-skimmed milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch fleur de sel
• 4 slices wholemeal bread (about 40 g each)

🍴 Utensils

• Baking sheet
• Clean tea towel
• Mini chopper or powerful blender
• Flexible spatula
• Small glass jar
• Toaster

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 170 °C. Spread the hazelnuts on the baking tray and roast them for 10 to 12 minutes, until the skins crack and the insides are light golden: cut one open to check. If burnt, they'd make a bitter spread.
2. Tip the still-warm hazelnuts into the tea towel, fold it over and rub vigorously for 1 minute to remove most of the skins, which add bitterness. It doesn't matter if a few remain. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Blend the warm hazelnuts in the mini chopper in 1-minute bursts. They go through three stages: powder, grainy paste, then runny nut butter. Scrape down the sides with a spatula between each burst and take a break if the machine gets hot.
4. Keep going until you have a smooth, glossy nut butter, which takes 5 to 8 minutes depending on the machine. Don't stop too soon: patience at this stage is what gives a creamy spread rather than a gritty one.
5. Add the cocoa, honey, vanilla and fleur de sel, then blend for 1 minute. The spread suddenly thickens at this point: that's normal, the honey and cocoa absorb the oil from the hazelnuts.
6. Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, blending for 20 seconds after each addition, until soft and spreadable. Taste: it's less sweet than the shop-bought kind, and that's intentional. Transfer to the clean small glass jar.
7. Lightly toast the slices of wholemeal bread in the toaster. Spread each slice with about 35 g of the spread, or 2 tablespoons, then cut into soldiers for little hands.