Chocolate Prune Hazelnut Spread

When I was younger, I loved a picture book called Chocolatina.  It was about a girl named Chocolatina who loved chocolate more than anything, and her health teacher who insisted that you should only eat healthy foods and loved prunes the way Chocolatina loved chocolate.

The health teachers favorite saying was "You are what you eat," and one day Chocolatina wished that it would be true.  The next day she woke up as a chocolate girl.  As it turns out, being chocolate is no fun especially when you find out your health teacher is actually a chocoholic in disguise and she tries to eat you.

Now that i'm older and wiser, I've come up with a way that Chocolatina and her health teacher could have avoided all those problems, and actually formed quite a strong friendship.  The thing is, prunes have gotten a bad rep for no reason.  They're actually quite tasty, and even more tasty when you pair them with chocolate.  Chocolate + prunes = absolutely delicious.

In today's recipe, I paired prunes with chocolate and with hazelnuts.  There was seriously no way it could go wrong, and I was right, it didn't.  This spread is sososo good.  So good it could have even have brought Chocolatina and her health teacher together.

Chocolate Prune Hazelnut Spread

• 1 1/4 cup hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup prunes
• 1/4 cup extra dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 milk
• 1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place nuts on baking sheet, and roast in oven for 6-8 minutes, until nuts are fragrant and the skins are splitting.  Remove skin from as many nuts as possible and place in a food processor or vitamix.  Blend on and off until nuts have formed a butter.  Stop and scrape down the sides of the machine as necessary.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until completely blended and smooth.  Make sure there are no prune clumps.  Transfer to a jar and store in fridge.  Spread on toast or fruit, swirl into oatmeal, or simply eat off a spoon.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Honey Banana Almond Butter

Entirely Date Sweetened Nutella

Alright, I admit it.  I love Nutella.

I used to come home from school and shovel the stuff into my mouth by the spoonful.  The two tablespoon serving size meant nothing to me.  Nothing.

I swear, I went through a whole jar in just two days once.  I was literally addicted to Nutella.  Needless to say, it was not healthy.

Luckily, I've stopped that habbit now.  After all, something with the ingredients sugar and oil listed first is not something I want entering my body often.

But that doesn't mean I don't still love Nutella.

The famous chocolate and hazelnut combination is definitely something I still adore.  And why go without something you adore?

I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't avoid your favorite foods just because you fear they're unhealthy.  I love remaking guilty pleasures into healthier foods that you can enjoy whenever you like.  My most recent creation is a completely clean, oil free, refined sugar free, Date Sweetened Nutella.

I'm not gonna lie, it's not just like Nutella, but it's so delicious that I promise you won't even mind.  In fact, you may even forget all about that heavenly spread while enjoying it.  Yes, it's that good.

Date Sweetened Nutella

• 2 cups raw hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or another type)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup date paste*

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet.  Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes or until skins begin to crack.  Remove skins from the hazelnuts and place nuts in food processor or high power blender.  Blend until the hazelnuts are broken down into a smooth butter.  This could take a bit of on and off blending. Once smooth, add remaining ingredients and process again until well incorporated and creamy.  Transfer nut butter to a jar and store in the fridge.  Makes about 2 cups.

* Date paste is simply dates that have been blended to form a thick, smooth puree.  To make it, pack a jar with as many pitted dates as possible, fill the jar with water, and then let it sit at least overnight.  The next day, blend the soaked dates in a food processor until they're smooth and creamy.  For a more detailed guide, visit this page.

While everything's OK in moderation, I tend to have some willpower problems when it comes to Nutella.  That basically means that the whole moderation concept sorta flies out the window when I have a jar in front of me.  For that reason, I prefer to make my own healthier Nutella.  It's the perfect solution!  Yummy taste, and I get to eat as much as I feel like.

A world where Nutella is actually a healthy snack?  Now that's a world I want to live in!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies