Chestnutella
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas with this festively fantastic 100% vegan chocolate spread recipe. Our Christmas-flavoured vegan "Nutella" made from chestnuts is a more precious commodity than gold, frankincense or myrrh (fact) and we seriously recommend you find a good place to hide it. It's a really versatile recipe: you could use it inside our Chocolate Croissant Tearer Sharer, as a frosting for cupcakes or just eat it straight from the jar (recommended). It could also make a great vegan gift idea! We've used vacuum-packed chestnuts to make it super smooth, gooey and chocolate-y and it's amazing on croissants on Christmas morning.
Serves
Ingredients
For the recipe
<item-todo-done>80g vacuum packed chestnuts - we used Merchant Gourmet<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>½ tsp salt<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>200g dark chocolate<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>150ml maple syrup<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>100ml plant-based milk<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>¼ tsp salt<item-todo-done>
Before you start
Preheat the oven to 180°C | Food processor | Saucepan | Mixing bowl | Baking tray | Boiled kettle | Jar
Cook the chestnuts
- Spread the chestnuts out on a lined baking sheet, put in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes
- Take the baking sheet out of the oven, set it down on a heat proof surface and allow it to cool to room temperature
Blend the ingredients
- Put the chestnuts and salt in the food processor and blend them until the nuts turn into a smooth, thick, creamy nut butter
- You may have to scrape the sides of the food processor a few times to help the blending process (no licking the spoon...we're watching you)
Melting the chocolate
- Put the saucepan on a medium heat and pour in 1 inch of boiling water from the kettle
- Place the mixing bowl on top of the saucepan. Add the dark chocolate and leave it for a couple of minutes to completely melt
Combine
- Pour the melted chocolate, maple syrup, salt and plant based milk into the liquidiser, put the lid on and blend everything together until the chocolate spread is really smooth
Store the spread
- Pour the contents of the blender into a sterilised jar, refrigerate until solid and consume within 7 days (not usually a problem...)