Secret Ingredient Healthy Nutella Fudge
Do you like/love-so-much-you-could-marry Nutella? Yes? Me too! So I made it in fudge form 😉
This Healthy Nutella Fudge is sweet, chocolatey and satisfying. Oh, and it’s healthy too. It’s made with a surprising secret ingredient that might just gross you out but don’t worry, you can’t taste it. Trust me, nobody knew it was there! This fudge is packed full of protein, fiber and healthy fats, and none of the added sugar or artificial flavors. BOOM! I’ll take seven.
Two Christmases ago, I was a pretty darn lucky girl and (finally) got a Vitamix! You know, basically the most sought-after, powerful blender on the market? A Vitamix had been on my wishlist for over three years at the time and I quietly envied everyone who had one. They could puree green smoothies (sans the spinach chunks), grind up smooth and creamy nut butters, and of course, they can blend up this Secret Ingredient Healthy Nutella Fudge!!
This recipe required a few trials to perfect, though. Let me walk you through each trial:
In the first trial, I used 1 cup of my Homemade Nutella and no black beans. Sadly, the fudge didn’t firm up (it was like a pudding), it wasn’t nearly sweet enough, and it wasn’t hazelnutty enough.
In the second trial, I added a can of black beans and ⅓ cup more Nutella. I blended the “batter” in my food processor. While the beans pureed well, the bean skins left small black flecks throughout the fudge. While the bean flecks didn’t affect the flavor at all, it sure wasn’t attractive to look at. I wanted a super smooth and uniform fudge so no one would suspect the sneaky ingredient.
In the third and final trial, instead of adding the ingredients in my food processor, I added them to my Vitamix. Problem solved. I got a perfect fudge batter without the black flecks! This fudge is suuuper addicting. You won’t be able to stop at one. And that’s okay, because this fudge is secretly GOOD for you 😉
Why, hello gorgeous little cube of fudge! I think I’ll go ahead and dive in…
THIS. IS. THE. BOMB!
Words cannot even begin to describe how amazing this Healthy Nutella Fudge is. It’s so chocolatey and sweet and spongy and fluffy. You can’t detect the beans or cottage cheese at all (trust me, I’m not a huge fan of beans OR cottage cheese, and they were thankfully overpowered by the sweet Nutella and soul-warming vanilla). This will fulfill your wildest dessert-filled dreams 🙂
Secret Ingredient Healthy Nutella Fudge
Ingredients
- 396g (1½ cups) Homemade Nutella
- 24 (3 cups) Low Fat Cottage Cheese
- one 15oz can Black Beans (drained and rinsed well!**)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Creme-Flavored Stevia Extract
- 140g (1 cup Powdered Erythritol
- 50g (5 tbs Psyllium Husk Powder
Instructions
- Line a 9" brownie pan with parchment paper both ways.
- In a high-speed blender (I used my Vitamix), add the Nutella, cottage cheese, beans, vanilla extract, and stevia extract. Blend until completely smooth. Pour the mixture into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Turn mixer on low speed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the erythritol and psyllium husk powder. Slowly add this to the stand mixer. Increase the mixer speed to medium, then high. Mix until completely even. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix one last time.
- Scoop the mixture into the prepared pans and spread it out. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, slice, serve, and enjoy! Keeps for ~1 week.
Recipe Notes
The nutrition label is for FOUR pieces, so each piece has got just 55 calories! WHOOP WHOOP!
Compared to 4 pieces of typical Nutella fudge, 4 pieces of my Healthy Nutella Fudge has:
- 340 less calories
- 11g less fat
- 77g less sugar (you save yourself from more than ⅓ CUP of sugar!)
- 8g more fiber
- 10g more protein
I’ve literally been eating about 6 pieces of this fudge every day. If I turn into a little Nutella fudge cube, you’ll know why 😉
Enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
Now THIS is a sign!! I’ve been comparing food processors and blenders because I want one. And this pops up 😀 Nutella fudge looks soooo good!!!
Surya Bhattacharya-
YES! This is a sign 😉
I’ve had a Magic Bullet, Cuisinart, Ninja and Vitamix. Vitamix is definitely the ultimate blender!
-Jess
You are such a genius! I just threw out 2 bottles of my nutella because looking at it made me want to barf. Can I use Truvia ? and what does husk powder look like? Is it like finely ground? Or still has some husk visibility?
Shweta-
I haven’t tried using Truvia in this recipe so I can’t be sure. Since it’s ~2x as sweet as sugar you won’t need to use as much… probably only ~7-8 tbs rather than 1 cup. You might not need as much stevia either.
Psyllium husk powder looks like very fine grain sand but is lighter in weight. It has the color of sand but weight of powdered sugar. It doesn’t have any husk visibility. Hope this helps! 🙂
-Jess
Also what purpose does erythiol serve in baking? Like texture wise or structure wise? I fee like it see it everywhere now instead of using stevia powder or cooconut sugar and i am so confused!
Shweta-
Erythritol is a natural sweetener that replaces sugar. Powdered erythritol looks and tastes just like powdered sugar 🙂
-Jess
The first thing I would make would be a green smoothie!
Definitely start by making salsa and juices
OMG! Soups, detox smoothie…everything! Your site is amazing. Thanks for sharing such great recipes and a fantastic giveaway~
If I were to win the contest, I’d use my new Vitamix Blender to make this healthy Peppermint Mocha: http://dessertswithbenefits.flywheelsites.com/homemade-peppermint-mocha/
Mike Propp-
Haha, good choice! 😉
Good luck!
-Jess
I want to make a creamy tomato soup.
Looks amazing!
Yay healthy fudge! I love that I found your blog. And I love that you incorporate protein into so many of your recipes!! AND Double yay for vitamix giveaways! 😀
I really want to make this! Oh finals…you get in the way of real life sometimes. After this week though, I’ll be making me some fudge 🙂
Courtney-
Good luck on your finals!! I just had my first final a few hours ago, eek!
I hope you like the recipe 😀
-Jess
Mmm.. nutella.. I would definitely try making nutella.. probably followed by the fudge… If I had any nutella left, it goes well with just a spoon.
I’d make my aunt’s secret cheesecake recipe!!!
Nut flours!
I really want to win that vitamix! Where do you get psyllium husk for this recipe?
You can get psyllium husk powder at health food stores and Whole Foods, but I get mine online from Amazon.
-Jess
I am a big fan of Nutella and fudge. I can’t believe there is a healthy version since I have a wicked sweet tooth. I want to make this!
nutella fudge is making me drool! and the tiramisu is in the near future.
This looks too amazing for words. I sooo wish I could eat it all right now
Sounds yummy. Thanks!
I have missed commercial Nutella, it doesn’t exactly fit well into a healthy diet… i am so looking forward to your version!! thanks.
Here is to uniform healthy fudge!
I’d make some homemade coconut butter!
I love love love making smoothies (the super thick kind) so I would go smoothie crazy if I won
A vitamix is on my dream xmas list
I would make your healthy cake batter dip
Paige C-
Good choice! Hehehehe 😉
Good luck! 🙂
-Jess
What awesome giveaway! I would make some homemade nut butter or soup!
I stumbled upon your website/blog after a google search for healthy oatmeal and flax cookies. I’m so impressed with all your recipes! I can’t wait to try some out.
Jennifer Keas-
YAY! I’m so glad you found my blog too 🙂
I hope you get to try as many recipes as possible!! 😀
-Jess
This looks so amazing! I can’t wait to try it at home 🙂
This looks so yummy!
That fudge looks absolutely delicious! Omg! The first thing I would make would be a green juice or smoothie.. I love them! I don’t have a decent blender so I cant wait! After that I would have to try this fudge. AHhh yum! xo
I would make SO many things! Homemade nutella protein shake anyone?!
Although I would love to make the fudge, my first recipe will be a green smoothie for breakfast!
I have wanted a Vitamix forever!!! for sure would make the nutella 1st!!!!!! As someone who is grain/dairy/soy/sugar free I am happy to stumble across this blog! thanks 🙂
I would make holiday themed cupcakes first!
I’d probably make a squash soup of some kind since I have a pumpkin, a butternut, and an acorn squash sitting on my counter.
I would make a nice hot soup!
This is literally all I want for christmas. I really want to be able to make chunk-free date smoothies, and healthy ice creams!
If I would win I think I would try making the salted marcosa almond butter recipe~And then the fudge 🙂
I would make your pistachio butter!
I would first make a strawberry and banana smoothie.
THIS IS IN MY FREEZER RIGHT NOW AND I JUST CAN’T WAIT! Yummmmm!!!
Stephanie K-
YAY!! I hope you liked the fudge Stephanie!! 😀
-Jess
I’d make peanut butter.
I would make a chocolate frappe
Thanks, Jessica! I thought, maybe since the giveaway was launched on my birthday the contest might give me a nice present 🙂 Of course, looking through the site and seeing some healthier options perhaps there will be more birthdays than there otherwise would have been…
So, just curious, when will you announce? 🙂
Mike Propp-
Sorry for the delay, I just finished final exams and traveling back home. I announced the winner last night, which was entry #1502. Thank you so much for entering the giveaway Mike! I’ll be hosting more giveaways down the road 🙂
-Jess
Happy Dance and Thanks so Much! I’m looking forward to playing with it when it gets here!!! I see homemade nutella and getting green smoothies into my very picky toddler soon!
Hi Jessica! I’ve stumbled upon your blog several months ago and I have to say, it was love at first sight! Although I do not have most of the ingredients you usually use for your recipes, it’s really lovely and admirable to see you do so many trials in order to come up with these recipes for us! 😀
A few months ago I finally grabbed my hands on some brown rice protein powder! I’ve made the CCDO, matcha, red velvet and the nutella ones . They’re quite tasty and fudgy! Nowadays, I have something to look forward to after dinnertime’s over. XD Oh, and CCDO and matcha got a tie for being my top two fave! XD
Now this is another recipe that I tried! There were several modifications I made here but I think the end product is fantastic!
1. I’ve made my own cottage cheese, but since I only managed to make 2 cups of it, I halved the original recipe.
2. I didn’t have canned black beans with me at that moment and I was too lazy to go out just to buy them. In the end, I cooked up my own red lentils for the recipe. It worked like a charm! Didn’t taste any lentils.
3. I didn’t have real Nutella with me, nor do I have access to a store that sells hazelnuts so I ended up making my own nut-free Nutella made out of hemp. Still tasty!
Once I made the following modifications and finished coating the fudge bites with cocoa powder, I can’t help but take two pieces out of the 36 and daaaaymmm I have to say it was really creamy and milky. It’s hard to believe that it’s healthy for me! XD
They’re currently in the freezer atm, and I can’t wait to try some more of it tomorrow! I’m more excited because you said in the blog post that they’ll be fudgier the day after it was made!
Sorry for the long comment. I’m just really excited that something that I applied alot of modifications with went really well! I hope my experiment will give insight to the people who’ll be making these in the future! 🙂
Thanks again for the recipes and hardwork, Jessica! Will look forward to make more of your recipes! 🙂
Sara-
YAY I’m glad you found my blog Sara!! I’m so happy you’ve made some of my recipes. You totally just made my morning 😀
As for your ingredient subs for this recipe, all I can say is WOW. DIY cottage cheese?? That’s amazing! I don’t know if I’d have the patience to do that 😉
And genius idea of using lentils. I’ve never used lentils in a dessert, but knowing that you didn’t taste them in here, I think I’ll try that sometime in the future. Even though I have an aversion to lentils (haha), I got over my fear of beets in my red velvet cake, so hopefully I’ll make a lentil dessert soon. Thank you SO MUCH for making this recipe and letting me know how it turned out! Have an amazing weekend 😀
-Jess
Im definitely making this for my sister , aka the biggest nutella lover of all time. This looks amazing, I love adding cottage cheese and black beans to sweets! It makes them smooth, creamy and rich tasting without the fat!! Winner winner you could have nutella fudge for dinner!
I was so scared you wouldn’t like it! Sometimes looking at the ingredient list you’ll be like EW WHAT?!? But once you actually try a piece, you’d NEVER know there are beans in there 😉 I hope your sister LOVES it!!
How many pieces do you get in a recipe? I can’t find the size or weight (in grams or oz.) in the recipe.
I’ve been interested in recipes using cottage cheese because of the good protein count and love that you’ve used it here. I haven’t ventured into working with psyllium husk but now just might be the time to do so.
Thanks, Jess.
The recipe yields 36 pieces — the recipe yield shows in the orange ribbon banner thingy above the recipe title in the recipe box ?
Cottage cheese is so gross on it’s own (or at least it is to me) but since the flavor is so mild, it works really well in this fudge (and cheesecake dip)! Psyllium is a super weird ingredient… it’s like a mixture of chia seeds, gelatin, and a sponge. It absorbs so much liquid so quickly, and can yield a super soft and spongy texture. Hope you like the fudge Beth!! 🙂
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