Dark Chocolate Almond Spread

Dark Chocolate Almond Spread (#hippienutella)

Let’s see if I’m totally out of line with this opinion, or if some of you can relate… I like the idea of Nutella, but in practice it’s just too over-the-top unhealthy most of the time. The stuff is overwhelmingly sweet, slick with excess oil, and frankly… not real food. I’m not above a little candy here and there, but the problem is that a nutty chocolate spread doesn’t need to be such a dietary disaster.

I had been wanting to experiment with a superior spread for a while, but I don’t have a food processor and I was wary of grinding up nuts in my blender. Luckily, Jeanine from Love and Lemons is smarter than me and recently shared a spread that circumvents this issue entirely by starting the recipe with almond butter. Duh!! I’m so thankful for the internet.

As a bonus, this is the kind of recipe I can even pass along to friends who aren’t into cooking. It’s extremely simple: Almond butter. Dark chocolate. Coconut oil. I took creative liberty and added an extra tablespoon of high-quality cocoa powder to really push the flavor, and you guys… it’s so much better than Nutella.

This spread is bittersweet perfection, just the way I like it. If I’m eating chocolate, I want it to taste like CHOCOLATE. And due to our wholesome ingredients, each tablespoon has only 2 grams of sugar, while Nutella has over 10!

It’s good enough to stand on its own, but I prefer to enjoy it by loading it up with fruit.

Dark Chocolate Almond Spread (#hippienutella)
You can head over to Love and Lemons for a full account, but really it’s as simple as melting together 1/2 cup of almond butter, 1/2 cup of chopped dark chocolate, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil (and if you’re me, an extra tablespoon of the the very best cocoa powder). You can even melt the ingredients in a microwave, as long as you take it out to stir at 20 second intervals. Then stick it in a jar and voila!  The original recipe suggests keeping it at room temp, but I put mine in the fridge with no ill effects to the texture; it’s still totally spreadable, just not quite as smooth and glossy.

You can see a little grainy texture from the almond butter… but I like it that way! It’s made of real food, and proud of it! #hippienutella

Dark Chocolate Almond Spread (#hippienutella)

 

So… what’s the next thing I should spread my spread on? Don’t even act like you don’t have ideas, because I know you do.

5 thoughts on “Dark Chocolate Almond Spread”

  1. This looks REALLY good. I think almond and chocolate go together at least as well as hazelnut and chocolate. I will say though, have you tried Justin’s “chocolate hazelnut spread” (from Justin’s nut butters)? It is like Nutella but way less sweet and oily. You might like it, I definitely do.

  2. hey there! this seems soo delicious i cant wait to try it! i was wondering if i could just omit the chocolate and just use cocoa powder do you think would that work?
    thanks xx

    1. Hey thanks! You know, I think I’m going to try that out on my next batch. It might make the consistency a little less creamy, an extra tablespoon of coconut oil would probably help if that happens. It’s pretty foolproof!

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