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Gaby's Bakery - Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate

May 30, 2025

Gaby's Bakery - Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate

So today I’m giving a shortcut recipe to great chocolate. If you have plenty of time you can take yourself through the long route below.

  1. Harvest the beans from the cocoa pods, and allow them to naturally ferment over a period of two to fourteen days. Natural yeasts grow which give the intricate flavours.
  2. Roast the beans to eliminate acidity from fermentation and develop the complex flavours.
  3. Crack and winnow the pods to separate the nibs from the shells
  4. Refine and grind the pods
  5. Conch the raw cocoa liquor to drive off the remaining acidic elements.
  6. Temper the chocolate to get a pleasant degree of gloss and snap.

Or the easy way….

Ingredients
100g raw hazelnuts
50g cacao butter
50g icing sugar
40g unsweetened cacao powder Pinch of salt

Method
Heat oven to 160⁰C and roast hazelnuts for appx 6 – 8 mins. Take them out the oven and place in a clean tea towel, rubbing them to remove their skins. Put 50g in a food processor and blitz for a few minutes until you have a smooth butter. Chop up the remaining hazelnuts.

On a very low heat melt the cacao butter in a bain-marie. Take off the heat, add the cacao powder, icing sugar and salt and whisk together until all incorporated, then add the 50g of hazelnut butter, mixing until you have a smooth consistency.

Pour the chocolate into the desired moulds, top with the chopped hazelnuts and place in the fridge or freezer to set. Keep chocolate stored in the fridge.

Enjoy


Gaby Van Clarke




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