I’ll just say up front here that I don’t really like Nutella. It’s the hazelnuts that put me off – they taste weird to me, not a fan.

But I can be convinced to consume hazelnuts in certain forms. Once we had a cake at a friend’s birthday party – I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I know it had hazelnuts, and it was surprisingly good. My friend and culinary school classmate Stephanie sells her homemade Nutella on Zaarly. I was lucky enough to receive a jar – it’s eat-it-right-off-the-spoon delicious.

This version is also pretty nice. It’s more chocolate-y than nutty, and it’s not at all too sweet. I deviated slightly from the recipe, choosing to boil the hazelnuts with a bit of baking soda to make the de-skinning process easier (details on the method here). It works great – and I lightly toasted the nuts once the skin was off.

Once the hazelnuts are prepped, this is pretty simple to make – just give everything a whiz in a food processor. I had to add a bit more oil to get the texture right, but even with the extra oil, mine turned out fairly thick and not totally smooth. No matter – it’s still pretty good. For something made with hazelnuts.

To get the recipe and see the other entries from this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings head on over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Baked Explorations, p. 198)