Chocolate Hazelnut (aka Nutella) Hamantaschen

Nutella Hamantaschen

As you may have noticed, the Heathens produced quite a few hamantaschen recipes last year for Purim, so I was struggling a bit to come up with something unique. I re-read Marc’s post and was reminded that his mother uses chocolate in hers, and the same day went digging through my freezer. I came across a bag of Oregon hazelnuts, that were given to me by my friends, Penny and Bill, brought back from one of their many trips to Eugene to see family and the Ducks. At that point I recalled of the joy of the ultimate combination of chocolate and hazelnuts: Nutella. The ingredients of Nutella are relatively simple (sugar, oil, hazelnuts, cocoa powder), and I realized I could easily make my own with my unearthed treasure of hazelnuts. I adore Nutella and will put it on just about anything, so filling hamantaschen with it may be the most deliciously evil idea to occur on the blog since the (in)famous animal style latke.

With a little research I found a number of recipes but doctored mine to suit my tastes. Rather than simple cocoa powder I added melted dark chocolate and increased the nuts to chocolate ratio to achieve a nuttier spread. The nuts I used were also pretty low in oil content, so I had to add a bit of vegetable oil to achieve the right consistency. I used my standard hamantaschen dough recipe, which can be found here. Follow the recipe but simply substitute the poppy seed filling with the chocolate hazelnut spread.

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Nutella)

2 cup hazelnuts

6 ounces melted dark chocolate (I used 72%)

3 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

vegetable oil (add until desired consistency is achieved)

If beginning with raw hazelnuts – preheat oven to 350°F. Spread hazel nuts on a baking sheet and toast for 15min. Once out of the oven wrap in a tea towel and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Rub the nuts in the towel to remove as much of the skins as possible.

Add hazelnuts to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it becomes a smooth consistency.

Add the melted chocolate, cocoa, sugar salt and vanilla. Process until smooth and well-mixed.

Add vegetable oil a small amount at a time. Pulse to a smooth, spreadable consistency, if necessary.