Tag: healthy dessert ideas

DIY Nutella (That Won’t Make Your Kids Bounce Off the Walls)

Posted on Updated on by Amber Fox

Let’s be honest — store-bought Nutella is delicious, but have you seen that sugar content? One spoonful and suddenly your toddler thinks they’re starring in Fast & Furious: Living Room Drift. Enter this dreamy, creamy, dietitian-approved version from YMCA nutritional wizard Shawn Borup. It’s sweetened with dates (nature’s candy), made with hazelnuts (hello healthy fats), and totally customizable with cocoa or carob powder. Spoiler: you’ll be eating it straight off the spoon after bedtime. No judgment.

Homemade Nutella fruit dip with apples on a wooden tray, Healthy chocolate hazelnut spread next to sliced apples, YMCA nutritious homemade Nutella with dates and hazelnuts

Ingredients:

  • ¾–1 cup hazelnuts

  • 1 cup filtered water

  • 2 cups Medjool dates

  • ¼ cup carob powder or cocoa powder

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Shawn suggests going organic with your ingredients when you can — especially those dates and hazelnuts — because better ingredients = better spread (and less mystery in your pantry).

Truth Bombs About the Sweet Stuff (aka why Homemade Nutella is the hero we need):

  • Heads up: Cacao powder is strong stuff. Use a little less than you would with cocoa or carob.

  • Nutella says it’s a “hazelnut spread with cocoa.” Sugar is the first ingredient and not the picture of health. It’s 55% sugar. 

  • Oh and P.S.? Sugar + refined palm oil = a not-so-dreamy duo with known carcinogenic properties. Big yikes.

  • Eating sugar lights up your brain like a Christmas tree. It activates natural opioids — basically, your brain throws a party and forgets to send the eviction notice. Some studies say it can be addictive. (No wonder you can’t stop at one spoonful.)

  • And just for fun: Sugar also messes with your mood, your metabolism, and your waistline. It’s the frenemy of food — sweet on the surface, chaos underneath.

  • Dates to the rescue! Unlike refined sugar, dates bring fiber to the party — helping you feel full and slowing down the sugar spike. They’re nature’s way of saying, “I got you.”

Directions:

  1. Soak dates in warm water for 30 minutes.

  2. While that’s happening, blend the hazelnuts and filtered water in a blender to soften them up.

  3. Drain and pit the dates, then toss ’em in the blender.

  4. Blend for about a minute, or until it looks like creamy dessert magic.

  5. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vanilla and carob/cocoa powder, and try not to eat it all in one sitting.

How to Use It:

  • As a fruit dip (make apples exciting again!)

  • Swirled into yogurt or oatmeal

  • In smoothie bowls

  • Or straight-up on a slice of whole-grain toast