Homemade Nutella Coconut Delight

Good evening ! I came home yesterday after a month trotting around the globe: Vancouver B.C, Whisler B.C and Brisbane, Australia. It was great to connect wtih my boyfriend's family and friends in B.C. From Vancouver, I then headed directly to Australia for work for a period of 3 weeks;  great experience and I met some amazing people.

I'm thankful to be back home and decided to get over my jetlag by keeping busy cooking. My Vitamix and food processor are offically back on duty!!

So, I have been thinking about homemade nutella for quite a while .. and today was the day where the magic happened. I made Nutella with a twist... I added coconut flakes and it turned out delicious! It is surprisingly close to the real thing, but it taste better and is much healthier!

Yield: Approx. 1.5 cups
Ingredients

2 cups raw hazelnuts
1/4 cup maple syrup (or any other sweetener, just check on the conversion)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk (or any other non-dairy milk)
1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Pre-heat the oven at 420ºF/215ºC
2. Roast the hazelnut for 6-7 minutes and let them cool
3. Put the hazelnut into a towel and massage to remove the skins
4. Blend hazelnut and coconut in food processor for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth like nut butter
5. Add in all other ingredients and blend for another 2-3 minutes
6. As needed and to taste, add more soy milk.

Serve immediately; store leftovers in refrigerator in air tight container

I decided to only use maple syrup (and not coconut sugar)

The skins peel off very easily.. if not, don't worry about it.
the reason for peeling the skins is to avoid a bitter taste

I served the Nutella on little banana sandwich... amazing!