Seized Processed Nut Butter

[scott123]

For a few years now, I've been working on my own nutella.  I start by roasting the hazelnuts a bit (Costco hazelnuts are supposed to be roasted, by they are very light) and then I toss them straight in my vintage cuisinart.  Every time I make them, I push the processing a little further- 3 minutes, 6 minutes, 12 minutes.

 

This last time I think I went to 15 minutes with two breaks, and, toward the 15 minute mark, the melted chocolate/hazelnut paste went from being a fairly loose liquid to like a balled bread dough consistency, with a heavy layer of grease covering the whole thing.

 

Anyone know what's going on here? The hazelnuts come out of the oven pretty hot, and the processing might add some heat (it's hard to tell).

Edited December 23, 2023 by scott123 (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Couple of thoughts -

 

Your spread might be suffering from a broken emulsion - there isn't enough water to suspend the fat any more. You could try the various techniques to rehabilitate a broken emulsion and see if one would work. But if I were to try - I'd split this into a few bowls and try with only part of the mass. Can I ask what the rest of the ingredients are in there so we can make some suggestions around what to try? 

 

When you are making a batch of chocolate in a melanger - at first it is thick, then becomes thinner as the particle size get's smaller and each particle is coated with cocoa butter. When the particle size gets even smaller then the amount of cocoa butter is no longer sufficient to coat the increased number of particles so the chocolate becomes thicker again. For this issue you add more cocoa butter. I don't think that's necessarily what's going on here but the thought did cross my mind. 

 

Another thought - you say my 'chocolate/hazelnut paste' - is there anything else in there? Because if not this is just gianduja and I'd probably just process the nuts alone in the cuisinart to get the hazelnut paste - melt the chocolate and stir in the nut paste then temper the whole thing. 

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Rajala]

It would take quite some time to get the result you mention, right Kerry? What about moisture issues?

[Jim D.]

Following Kerry's diagnosis and suggestions:  I would, in the future, definitely make the hazelnut paste alone, then mix it with chocolate, heat the mixture, then temper it (preferably over cocoa butter silk if you have it,  by stirring over cold water, or by tabling the whole mass).  The heat resulting from processing plus the initial heat of the hazelnuts is probably taking the chocolate way out of temper.   Peter Greweling writes:  "Because gianduja is a fat system, and not an emulsion, there is no danger of separation."  It would appear you have proved Professor Greweling wrong!  But his diagnosis and remedies for "overly viscous" gianduja may prove helpful:

 

The cause of this situation, he writes, is "excessive processing, resulting in heat damage" or "insufficient cocoa butter in chocolate."  His remedy for the first issue is "Do not process gianduja in the machine excessively after the chocolate is added" and, for the second, "Use chocolate with sufficient cocoa butter content."  If you take Kerry's suggestion and tackle a small quantity of your "split gianduja" at a time, you might have success.  If you put a little melted cocoa butter or tasteless oil in the processor, then add the defective gianduja a little at a time through the feed tube, the two fats (chocolate and hazelnuts) might come together once again.  Other than that, the only step I can think of is to make this into a kind of ganache, adding a little liquid, and see if an emulsion will form.  The resulting mixture will be more perishable than gianduja.  But if this issue occurs again, adding cocoa butter (whether by using a chocolate with higher cocoa butter content or by adding plain melted cocoa butter) sounds like the best idea.  What brand of chocolate did you use?

[PamelaWilliams]

On 12/23/2023 at 8:43 PM, Jim D. said:

Following Kerry's diagnosis and suggestions:  I would, in the future, definitely make the hazelnut paste alone, then mix it with chocolate, heat the mixture, then temper it (preferably over cocoa butter silk if you have it,  by stirring over cold water, or by tabling the whole mass).  The heat resulting from processing plus the initial heat of the hazelnuts is probably taking the chocolate way out of temper.   Peter Greweling writes:  "Because gianduja is a fat system, and not an emulsion, there is no danger of separation."  It would appear you have proved Professor Greweling wrong!  But his diagnosis and remedies for "overly viscous" gianduja may prove helpful:

 

The cause of this situation, he writes, is "excessive processing, resulting in heat damage" or "insufficient cocoa butter in chocolate."  His remedy for the first issue is "Do not process gianduja in the machine excessively after the chocolate is added" and, for the second, "Use chocolate with sufficient cocoa butter content."  If you take Kerry's suggestion and tackle a small quantity of your "split gianduja" at a time, you might have success.  If you put a little melted cocoa butter or tasteless oil in the processor, then add the defective gianduja a little at a time through the feed tube, the two fats (chocolate and hazelnuts) might come together once again.  Other than that, the only step I can think of is to make this into a kind of ganache, adding a little liquid, and see if an emulsion will form.  The resulting mixture will be more perishable than gianduja.  But if this issue occurs again, adding cocoa butter (whether by using a chocolate with higher cocoa butter content or by adding plain melted cocoa butter) sounds like the best idea.  What brand of chocolate did you use?

Thanks, I will try it. Crafting a thesis requires expertise, and Academized's write my thesis service https://academized.com/writing-services/write-my-thesis proved to be the perfect choice. From selecting a topic to the final presentation, their writers demonstrated proficiency at every step. If a thesis is on your academic horizon, Academized is your partner in success.

Thanks, I will try it.

 

Edit: I tried and I like it.

Edited January 24 by PamelaWilliams (log)