FIGMO's Follies

Today's experiment: Sugar-Free Nutella.

After much research and some experimentation, I wound up with the following recipe:

• 1 c pre-shelled hazelnuts
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder (the higher the fat, the better)
• 1/2 c dry nonfat milk powder
• 1/3 c artificial sweetener or the equivalent - 8 packets (you might want to use a few more)
• 3/4 cup milk (I used nonfat)
• 6 T walnut oil (I'd have used hazelnut oil if I'd had it available)
• 1/4 c warm water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

To make the not-tella:

1. Get the skins off the hazelnuts. They taste bitter.
2. Put the hazelnuts into the work bowl of your food processor and process for at least five minutes. You're trying to get this as close to a nut butter as possible.
3. When the nuts are mostly a pasty glob, add the sweetener, milk powder, and fake sweetener.
4. Once the aforementioned ingredients are combined and well-blended, add the cocoa powder 1/4 cup at a time, blending well between additions.
5. Add the milk 1/4 cup at a time, incorporating each 1/4 cup before adding the next.
6. Add the walnut oil, 1 T at a time.
7. Add the warm water, drizzling it in slowly.
8. Add the vanilla extract and blend until totally mixed.

Your Not-tella will be spreadable and immediately usable; if you'd like it a bit thinner, add more water.

This can be kept in the refrigerator in a sealed container for a week or two, depending upon the freshness of the ingredients.

Based on the results of this attempt, I decided to try again, this time aiming to get a fudgier texture.

The ingredients:

• 2 Sorbee Dark Chocolate bars
• Enough Guittard Oban chocolate liquor wafers (unsweetened chocolate) to bring the total weight up to 12 ounces
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can evaporated skim milk
• 1/2 stick (4 T) butter
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1.5 cups erythritol
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin powder (IIRC 1 T)
• 1/4 cup nonfat milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions (or what I did, anyway):

Line a pan with cooking parchment (I once again used the 9x7 one, but suspect an 8x8 pan would be okay). Do allow excess parchment to hang outside the pan; you'll be using it later to help remove the fudge.

Combine chocolate, erythritol, the evaporated milk, butter, and salt in a saucepan, stirring off and on as the chocolate melts.

Between stirs, pour the 1/4 cup of nonfat milk into a microwaveable dish, then sprinkle the gelatin on it and allow it to "bloom" for 10 minutes.

Once it has melted, stir briskly, beating with a whisk if necessary, to combine.

Microwave the bloomed gelatin/milk mixture till the gelatin dissolves, stirring every 30 seconds to combine.

Slowly pour the gelatine/milk into the chocolate in the saucepan, beating/stirring briskly to incorporate.

Pour fudge mixture into the parchment-lined pan. Refrigerate until hardened.

The verdict:

The texture was much better. It was a tad gritty (I suspect I should have melted the chocolate separately from the erythritol and liquid heating), and it was a tad bittersweet for my taste, although the bittersweet aspect seemed to grow on me and the first few folks who tried it. I brought half the batch to a party last night where champagne was being served, and those of us who tried the fudge with the champagne felt the bittersweet aspect of it complemented the wine beautifully.

At worst, I've made something I can nuke back down into The World's Greatest Sugar-Free Hot Fudge Sundae Sauce. At least I took notes so I can recreate this if I ever want a huge batch of sundae topping!

For next time, I think this recipe was very close except for the overabundance of chocolate to the point where it was almost too bitter.

The mission: Create a sugar-free fudge that doesn't contain nut butters or cream cheese. Ideally, create a sugar-free fudge that tastes and has the mouth-feel of The Real Thing_TM.

I've been reading sugar-free and regular fudge recipes on the Internet for the last week. Regular fudge usually uses sugar or corn syrup as its thickening agent. Too many sugar-free recipes stick in cream cheese or peanut butter, both of which IMHO do weird things to the flavor. I don't want sour fudge, and I don't want chocolate-peanut fudge. ( More about what went into Try #1 behind the cut-tag so those of you who don't cook can skip it. )

The end result had a decent flavor profile but was a little "off" texture-wise. Warren tried it and (accurately) remarked, "it's a little Jell-o-ey." It kind of looks like fudge, kind of tastes like it (oddly enough, I think it needs more salt!), but the mouth feel wasn't quite right. I am guessing I need more fat in it -- way more fat -- and perhaps might have a better result if I made it with standard (4% fat) milk (which I don't normally keep on hand), cream (which I also don't normally keep on hand), or regular (not skim) condensed milk. I also wonder how using a sugar alcohol, such as erythritol (which I do have) might have made a difference.

Any other suggestions are welcome.