Making Your Own Hazelnut Butter
Hazelnut butter is the best of the butters (sorry, peanut butter) and this version is sweetened with maple syrup using a special method to keep things smooth and silky – no seizing. The nuts are roasted with maple syrup and cinnamon before blending, which serves three purposes: it’s a natural sweetener, which is nice, roasted nuts are easier to blend, and it lends a delicious toasted flavour.
All you need to make your own nut butter is a food processor and, in this case, an oven. It is slightly more involved than buying a jar at the store, but you get to completely control the add-ins – think spices, cocoa, and more. I’ve been making this for a long time – over a decade – and it’s still my favourite nut butter.
This recipe uses only hazelnuts, but I often stretch them with less expensive seeds, like sunflower seeds. You can see a version of this in my cookbook but if you’d like to try it here simply replace about a third of the nuts with sunflower seeds. The overwhelming flavour will still be hazelnut.
I first shared this recipe in 2015. It’s been updated with improvements to the recipe instructions and slight improvements to the recipe, new photos, including step-by-step photos, and more helpful information.
I don’t use affiliate links. Any links you see here are to other recipes or related information, not paid links.
One reader, Jessica, commented: “I decided to give this recipe a try today. I am super wary of adding maple syrup to nut butters because of the dreaded seize. This concept, however, of roasting the nuts in the maple syrup first somehow worked! I am so happy with my little jar of perfect hazelnut butter. Thank you!”
Ingredients You’ll Need and Why
At its most basic, hazelnut butter would be roasted hazelnuts and nothing else. Adding a little maple syrup, a pinch of salt, and a dash of cinnamon, though, make for a luxurious nut butter that beats anything you can buy. These are my notes from testing and you can find the full recipe card below.
- Raw hazelnuts: I find that blanched nuts tend to take longer to blend and the final texture isn’t as smooth. If you want the hazelnut butter to be a little lighter in colour and a bit sweeter, briefly roast them first and remove the skins before roasting with the maple syrup.
- Maple syrup: I sometimes use date syrup for this but it does make for a darker nut butter with a more robust taste. Honey can be used in a pinch but note that it’s quite a bit sweeter than maple syrup and burns more easily. I haven’t tried with granulated sugar.
- Spices: you can use any number of spices here. Nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves are all good additions depending on what you’re going for.
- Salt: if you prefer to have an unsalted hazelnut butter, omit the salt altogether. Otherwise adjust the amount to your taste.
How to Make Maple Hazelnut Butter
The trick here and with any homemade nut butter is patience. It will take longer than you expect to blend the nuts into butter, and if you stop too soon, it’ll turn out grainy and too thick.
Step 1: add all ingredients to a baking sheet with high sides and mix to coat. The maple syrup will pool under the nuts but that’s normal, and it’ll all go into the mixer in the end.
Step 2: roast the nuts for about 20 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Look at any pieces where the skin has come off to see the colour more clearly. The skin shouldn’t be turning black, and if it is, your oven is running too hot.
Step 3: set aside to cool for a few minutes before adding to a food processor. Make sure to scrape all the maple syrup off the pan with the nuts (sometimes it lifts off like a sheet, but not always).
Step 4: start mixing. It will turn into hazelnut meal first. As you keep mixing, the oils will be released from the nuts and it will start to turn into a paste.
Step 5: blend the butter until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. If it’s still thick or at all lumpy, it’s not ready yet. You can see here the texture is still a little thicker than in step 6.
Step 6: when ready, it will be very smooth. Hazelnut butter is runnier than peanut butter or sunflower seed butter and it should be very liquid once fully blended.
Expert Tips for the Best Nut Butter
- Make a chocolate version: if you want a chocolate hazelnut butter, add a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder (to your taste) when it’s almost finished mixing. You’ll need to add a bit of oil to make up for the added powder unless you want a thicker chocolate hazelnut butter.
- Keep a steam opening: when blending, keep the secondary opening for the food processor lid open so that steam can escape.
- Keep blending: when you think the nut butter is ready, blend for another minute. It always needs a bit longer than thought, and you want it very smooth and runny.
- Add a little oil: if your food processor isn’t very powerful, like mine, you can add a touch of coconut oil or another oil to speed things along a bit and encourage the nut butter to come together. Coconut oil melts when it’s added because the hazelnuts are warm, and incorporates well during blending.
- Don’t walk away: keep an eye on the oven when the nuts are roasting. If your oven runs rather hot, they may burn or over-cook before the allotted time (this happened to me once – my oven was 50°C too hot, disaster).
More Hazelnut Recipes
Chocolate Hazelnut Tart – with hazelnut butter in the crust, this is also gluten-free
Hazelnut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – vegan, with whole and ground hazelnuts
Cinnamon Hazelnut Granola – also sweetened with maple syrup
Hazelnut Fig Cake – lightly sweet, with a base of hazelnut meal and spelt flour
If you make this Hazelnut Butter or any other vegetarian staple recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Roasted Hazelnut Butter
Description
Ingredients
- 300 grams (2 cups) raw hazelnuts
- 50 ml (~¼ cup) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Place the hazelnuts, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt onto a large baking sheet with higher sides. Line with parchment paper if preferred.300 grams (2 cups) raw hazelnuts, 50 ml (~¼ cup) maple syrup, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix the nuts until fully coated, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden in colour and the nuts smell toasted.
- Cool for a few minutes before adding to a food processor. Make sure the small opening is open to let steam escape, then blend, scraping down the sides as needed, for about ten minutes.
- The nuts will turn into a meal first, then start to ball together as the oils are released. Continue to blend until a very smooth, runny nut butter forms.
- Transfer the hazelnut butter into a jar or container, then cool fully at room temperature before refrigerating. This recipe makes about 500 ml, or 2 cups.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
I decided to give this recipe a try today. I am super wary of adding maple syrup to nut butters because of the dreaded seize. This concept, however, of roasting the nuts in the maple syrup first somehow worked! I am so happy with my little jar of perfect hazelnut butter. Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that, thanks Jessica!