If there was not a more perfect food, it would be one that combines chocolate and peanut butter. Most of us know this.

But long before I came across this chocolate peanut butter spread (now more affectionately know in my house as peanutella), I was first introduced to Nutella. I was a 10 year old kid staying with near-strangers in a far-off land.

It was my foreign exchange program trip to France and I felt so, so out of place. And more homesick than I could ever have imagined I would be. But the Nutella showed up on the breakfast table with some type of delicious bread every single morning and somehow, this eased the angst just a little.

I don’t know how popular Nutella was in the States in the late-80s but we sure never had it in our house so this was certainly a special treat for me.

Shortly after I arrived home, my pen pal, Fabien, came to stay with us. And as foreign and revolutionary as Nutella was to me, peanut butter was to him.

A food that my American house was never, ever without, and this was truly his first time ever eating it! Needless to say, he had more than a couple jars of peanut butter packed in his suitcase when he headed back home 3 weeks later.

Nut Free Nutella

This peanutella (chocolate peanut butter spread) is the perfect way Kyle and I can enjoy Nutella without, you know, affecting him from his tree nut allergy.

That’s because there is a tree nut free recipe! There’s only peanuts in this recipe so it totally works for people with tree nut allergies who can eat peanuts.

And truthfully, it’s kind of like eating spreadable peanut butter cups! YES!!

Ingredients

Here’s the very basic shopping list for this chocolate peanut butter spread recipe. Be sure to check the recipe card below for the full list.

Peanuts – I prefer dry roasted peanuts but other varieties will work too.
Unsweetened cocoa powder – The darker the better! I like Hershey’s Special Dark or King Arthur Flour
Powdered sugar
Salt – You’ll only need a tiny bit of this to help balance the sweetness of the sugar.
Oil – A little peanut or canola oil will help to thin out the mixture into a spreadable form. You could also use a little virgin coconut oil as well.

This genius recipe marries deep, dark chocolate with peanut butter and some sugar. And it’s a heavenly combination!

The peanutella spreads just like Nutella and it gets all melty and smooth when you spread it on a freshly toasted piece of good bread. And it oozes out from the middle of a stuffed brown butter chocolate chip cookie.

A few sliced strawberries or my gawd, banana slices!? Or folded up in crèpes? Or slathered across some pancakes? Breakfast in a heartbeat.

And great memories of some very dear friends as a bonus.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread (Peanutella)

Name: Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread (Peanutella)
Prep time: 7 min
Total time: 7 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cups dry roasted peanuts; ½ cup of dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like King Arthur Flour or Hershey's); 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar; ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt plus additional to taste; 3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

Yield: about 1 cup

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 7 minutes

Peanutella is a tree nut free version of Nutella made with only a few simple ingredients, including peanuts. It's a chocolate peanut butter spread that you can slather on toast, ice cream, or just a spoon.

Ingredients

2 cups dry roasted peanuts
½ cup of dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like King Arthur Flour or Hershey's)
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt plus additional to taste
3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

Instructions

Pour the peanuts into the bowl of a food processor and grind them for about 5 minutes. Then they’ll become more of a paste and finally, they’ll liquefy. Scrape down the sides as needed.
With the processor off, carefully add the cocoa, sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt and two tablespoons of the oil to the bowl. Process until well blended, for an additional 1 minute. Add more up to another ¼ teaspoon salt if needed. If the spread is too thick (you'll know), add the last tablespoon of oil.
Stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container, the chocolate peanut butter spread will keep for a week or two. When it is full chilled it will become thick and spreadable.

Notes

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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