Delicious chocolate and hazelnuts spread invented in Italy
About this recipe
Gianduja is a marvelous spread that can be used in a lot of recipes. Easily found in Europe on supermarket shelves, I decided to make it from scratch
All the recipes of Gianduja are HERE
Recipes that use the gianduja are HERE
Did you know that Nutella was originally a Gianduja ?
Origin of the recipe
Gianduja is named after a character in the Italian theater "Commedia dell'arte ". The Italian pastry chefs used to add hazelnuts to their chocolate and named it after the character "Gianduja"
Source of the recipe
This recipe is from the French chef (Italian descent) Christophe Michalak, a renowned young pastry chef
In class with Chef Michalak
The Hazelnuts
1. 
First you will need to roast the Hazelnuts (will taste better !), in preheated oven at 360 °F / 180 °C for 10/15 minutes
Perforated Baking Pan9 x 13 inch
2. It's better to peel the Hazelnuts as their skin may make the spread too sour
3. ... which is easy to do by rubbing them in a clean towel
The chocolate
4. You will need a very good Milk Chocolate from the best brands. The one I am using is Valrhona Jivara
5. If you live in Los Angeles, I found my Valrhona Jivara in a French market in South Pasadena
Nicole's market
921 Meridian Avenue
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USA
6. You may use others such as Valrhona Dulcey, or Valrhona Bahibé, or like on the photo, Cacao Barry
7. Michalak warms the Milk Chocolate ( 7 oz or 200 g) in a saucepan on low heat
8. Grind the Hazelnuts (1 ¼ Cup or 200 g) and Icing Sugar (1 Cup or 200 g) in a powerful blender or mixer (magimix or ninja)
9. Pour the melted Milk Chocolate ( 7 oz or 200 g) and mix well for 5 minutes
10. The result is a paste that is a bit grainy, more grainy than the products you can find in stores, but believe or not, it's better. Grainy textures are very trendy in French pastries nowadays...
That's it!
I have a recipe that claims to be authentic made with your ingredients plus the additional ingredients of cream and butter.
Wouldn't you say that becomes a ganache?
No, I am surprised, I would not add them. Remember, Gianduja is stored at room temperature, so cream and butter are not a good idea !
I check the Callebaut Gianduja I bought in store (Callebaut is a good professional grade chocolate brand from Belgium), and I see it contains the same ingredients as mentioned in the recipe.
Don't get fooled by wrong recipes !