Creamy Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

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Are you searching for an inexpensive, kid-friendly recipe that offers a healthy alternative to the expensive snacks sold in stores? Is there a snack so versatile that it can be made week after week and NO-ONE in the house ever tires of it? The answer is YES! Waking up to the sweet, nutty aroma of hazelnuts roasting in the oven every Sunday morning will quickly become a weekly staple in your home after you make this creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread for the first time. Let me know in the comments below when it becomes a staple in your home.

This creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread is made with six simple ingredients and it can be made in five easy steps. That’s it! It will only take about an hour to make and the steps are super simple…

BUT you will need to have a lot of patience for each of these steps. It takes some time for each step to come to fruition.

SO…wake up early, put on some jazz music and get ready to make this creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread. Do it for the kids! Or do it with the kids, using the five activities below and you will both have fun learning about the five senses.

How to Use the Five Senses to Enjoy Making This Creamy Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Spread:

1. Aromatherapy – have the kids learn how to categorize different scents such as: fruity, nutty, flowery, smoky, herby.
2. Messy Play – place the ingredients into separate bowls and have the kids touch each ingredient to feel the differences. Make labels of sticky, soft, hard, and crunchy so they can label each ingredient.
3. Make some noise – blenders are noisy. The noise usually scares the kids. Use the sense of noise to make this fun for them. Challenge them to try and make noise that is louder than the blender, using anything they can find in the house. Or have them wear some noise cancelation headphones, like this pair I found on Amazon.
4. Measure and Pour – using sight can help kids learn a lot about cooking. Again, make some labels. Make labels of the measurements and see if they can match the labels to the correct measuring utensil.
5. Taste test – this is the best part! When the spread is finished, have them try it in a few different ways: on a wrap, on bread, dipped in strawberries or bananas, on a rice cake. The options are endless…

Aromatherapy

The hazelnuts are the main ingredient for this recipe and the first step is to roast them in the oven.

The aroma of them roasting in the oven is probably going to get the kids curious enough to see what you are up to in the kitchen. The distinct aroma of hazelnuts can be described as nutty, sweet and creamy. Here is a great article with a plethora of information on hazelnuts. Reading this article with older kids might be a useful tool that helps get them interested in making this chocolate hazelnut spread with you, but for the younger kids…

Make a scent activity by creating labels of fruity, nutty, flowery, smoky, herby and find some different foods that can be categorized under these labels. Have the kids smell each food item and ask them to describe it in their own words. Then, have the kids label them, accordingly. I used dandelions (yes, you can eat them), paprika, lemon peel, vanilla extract, basil and some roasted hazelnuts.

Messy Play

I know some kids don’t like to touch certain textures and I don’t advocate forcing them to, but giving them opportunities to get messy by exploring different foods is a great way to get them interested in helping in the kitchen, because cooking is ALWAYS messy.

While the hazelnuts are roasting in the oven, set up this easy activity and let the kids get messy. Simply add a little bit of each of the following ingredients to separate bowls: salt crystals, cacao powder, agave and hazelnuts. You can make labels and have them label each ingredient or you can add some measuring spoons, spatulas and just let them play with the ingredients and get messy!

Once the hazelnuts are done roasting, allow them to cool before having the kids help peel them. To peel the hazelnuts, have the kids rub them in between both hands until the peel comes off the nut. Be warned. They will get messy again during this process.

Make Some Noise

To get this vegan hazelnut spread to become creamy you need a high speed blender, such as a Vitamix. Do you own a Vitamix? If you don’t own one, get one! I bought mine refurbished on Amazon years ago and I use it everyday. Check out this link to find a refurbished one on Amazon for half the cost of a new one.

Now, if you do own one, you know what I mean when I say they are noisy. Kids can be sensitive to noise, so I like to make this step fun by challenging them to MAKE SOME NOISE! When I begin blending the hazelnuts, my son lines up all of his trucks, presses all of the buttons on them and tries to make them louder than the Vitamix.

The Vitamix always wins, though LOL! It’s SO loud!

And blending the hazelnuts is a process that takes about ten minutes, so this means ten entire minutes of noise. If your kids can’t handle it, consider purchasing some noise cancelation headphones like this pair on Amazon. They come in handy for thunderstorms and fireworks, too.

Measure and Pour

After you finish blending the hazelnuts into a creamy texture, it is time to add the other ingredients: cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract, plant based milk and salt. Measuring the ingredients is an important part of making the texture come out smooth, chocolaty and creamy. Teach the kids to use their sight to measure the ingredients correctly.

Do this by making labels of the words teaspoon, tablespoon, cup and the measurements 1, 1/4, 1/2, and 1/3 and have the kids match the labels to the correct measuring tool.

Then have them measure and pour the cacao powder, plant based milk, maple syrup and vanilla into the Vitamix. Blend it one more time until your chocolaty, nutty spread is perfectly smooth and creamy.

Taste Test

Now, here is the best part!

When the spread is done, do a taste test. Gather some fruit and grains such as bananas, strawberries, crackers, bread and rice cakes and spread a little bit of this creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread onto each item and have the kids taste each one. Don’t forget to ask for their feedback, share your feedback in the comments and rate the recipe below!

As I stated earlier, this recipe is sure to become a weekly staple in your home. These activities associated with the process of making it will likely also become a staple in your home. Kids love repetition and they also love interaction, so they will probably always request to do these activities when you make this creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread.

Even if you try to make this spread while the kids are asleep, the aroma of the hazelnuts will wake them up and you will find yourself with a little helper in the kitchen. That aroma of roasting hazelnuts will always bring back these memories in the kitchen with you, creating a joyful bond with your child and a healthy relationship with food. And that is just one more reason to make this creamy vegan chocolate hazelnut spread with your kids. And if you are searching for a nut free option, please check out my chocolate sunflower seed butter recipe here!

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