I created this recipe to give people an easy, luscious treat that still follows the Plan. While it doesn’t taste exactly like Nutella, it’s pretty darn close—even though I skipped the sugar, hazelnuts, chocolate, vegetable oil, soy lecithin, and milk powder. If you make up a jar of this, you’ll have it to spread on gluten-free toast or apples when you want a sweet snack. Perfect for stashing in your desk at work along with an apple. A huge hit with my recipe testers, who called it creamy, dreamy, and addictive.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (230g) raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup (160g) hemp seeds
- Stevia to equal 8 teaspoons sugar (or your sweetener of choice)
- ½ cup (50g) carob powder
- ¼ cup (60mL) coconut oil
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Put the sunflower seeds on baking sheets lined with fresh parchment paper.
- Toast the sunflower seeds for 10 minutes, then stir and return to the oven. Turn off the oven and toast the seeds another 5 to 10 minutes. You want them just golden brown but not dark brown or burnt. Taste a few if you aren’t sure.
- Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the toasted seeds cool for 15 minutes.
- Put the toasted seeds in a food processor fitted with the S-blade or a high-speed blender and blend into a fine powder, about 1 minute.
- Add the hemp seeds and stevia and blend for about 4 more minutes, stopping every minute to scrape down the sides. Eventually it will form a ball and become nut butter. Use the tamper if you have a Vitamix.
- In a separate bowl, blend the carob powder with the oil, then add the mixture to the nut butter. (If you add the carob powder and oil directly to a food processor, you will have a powdery carob explosion that is not fun to clean up.)
- Continue blending until you get the smooth consistency you want.
- Serve right away or transfer to a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. It will be spreadable when refrigerated, and just a little thicker than Nutella at room temperature. Eat within a month.
