I Stock Multiple Kinds of Nut Butters and This Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread Is the Star of My Collection

I am truly never without a flight of various nut butters in my pantry. I use them in all the usual ways, drizzling a tablespoon to add flavor and body to smoothies, oatmeal, ice cream, yogurt, and all the foods that begin with the letter “C” (crunchy toast, crackers, crispbread, cake batter). But the most common way each jar of nut butter in my collection gets used up is through what I like to call the “spoon-to-mouth method.” The concept is fairly simple: I reach for a spoon of whatever nut butter strikes my fancy and savor it as is.

Most of the nut butters I eat are the all-natural kind. I prefer all-natural because my palate runs rather savory (funny confession from someone who enjoys making desserts, I know). Too much added sugar, I find, mutes the gorgeous, earthy, nutty taste beaming out from roasted or raw nuts. For that reason, I’ve never been able to work chocolate-hazelnut butters into my collection — until two years ago, when I stumbled upon Hella. 

Buy: Bubble Goods Hella Hazelnut Spread, $27 for 3 jars at Bubble Goods

Hella is the first in-house product made by the online marketplace Bubble Goods. The customers responsible for it being sold out for months on end are the same demanding people I can thank for Hella’s relaunch early this February. (Lesson: Ask nicely and often enough and you might just get your way!) Unlike many other hazelnut spreads, Hella is made from just three ingredients: roasted hazelnuts, cacao nibs, and coconut sugar. That’s it. It’s also organic.

For me, the trifecta strikes just the right balance between savory nuttiness and dark chocolate. There’s even a slight, oddly pleasant grittiness to the butter’s texture, similar to that of chunky peanut butter studded with pieces of crushed nuts. It reminds me of where the butter came from and, in a way, feels more satisfying to eat! That could also be because I pledge allegiance to team crunchy when it comes to most foods, not just nut butter. 

Hella can be stored at room temperature, but because my current galley kitchen always runs a tad balmy, I offset my jar from getting too melty by keeping it in the refrigerator where the cold temps render it into a semi-solid state. When it nears time for a smear or spoonful, I leave it to sit out for 15 minutes as I shoot off some emails or check Instagram. It will, by then, have become smooth like butter — that’s when I tuck in with my utensil. I can also eat this hazelnut butter in a new way I never thought possible: straight from the fridge, as spoonable fudge.