Chocolate Nutella Feuilletine Crunch

This easy and delicious crunchy candy is a textural delight: made with just 3 ingredients, this no-bake recipe comes together in under 15 minutes (plus a bit of patience while you wait for it to set, which, to be honest, is probably the hardest part of the whole process).

While it may not be the fanciest or most elegant looking treat, this homemade candy is like a gourmet version of a classic crunch bar, with a fudgy texture and a lovely, delicate crunch that comes from an ingredient you’ve probably never heard of before called feuilletine.

Now that you’ve made your own Homemade Feuilletine, you may be wondering, what do I do with it? Well, there are lots of ways, but I figured I’d share my absolute favorite quick and easy candy recipe that uses feuilletine. It’s basically a thicker version of the crispy croustillant base from my Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake, cut into bars.

With only 3 ingredients—chocolate, Nutella, and feuilletine (and maybe a sprinkle of flake salt if that floats your boat)—this homemade crunch candy is so simple I almost feel like I’m cheating even calling it a recipe. If anything, it’s more of a jumping-off point for your own experimentation and flavorful explorations.

The result is a textural delight: rich, dark chocolate softened mixed with Nutella for an almost fudge-like consistency, then folded with crispy flakes of feuilletine for a light and delicate crunch.

I really wasn’t sure what to call this… is it a homemade crunch bar or chocolate crunch bark or crunch candy bark or chocolate fudge crunch or just plain crunch? The crunch being the only non-negotiable part, for obvious reasons. I guess the main differentiating factor is how you cut and present it (and while I cut mine into bars, you can also break it up into chocolate bark or dollop it like no-bake cookies).

The melted dark chocolate is mixed with Nutella so the texture becomes almost fudge-like at room temperature (not to mention there’s no need for finicky tempering, hooray!) Add in the delicate crunch from the feuilletine and you have yourself a sweet masterpiece of taste and texture.

While the soft and fudgy texture is lovely for eating, it will get a little melty if you hold it too long in your hands the same way that untempered chocolate would, for instance.

If the mess is a problem, you could always dip the cut and set bars in an outer coating of snappy tempered chocolate, turning this simple recipe into an elegant homemade candy bar worthy of any fancy chocolate shop.

What is Feuilletine?

What is feuilletine, exactly, besides something that seems nearly impossible to pronounce not to mention spell (I’ve typed it 21 times in this post so far and I’ve yet to get it right on the first try).

Basically, feuilletine is flakes of a super thin, crispy crepe. Think of the crispy edges of a well done crepe, then multiply that by the handful.

If you’ve ever had a professionally-made cake, confection, or pastry and noticed an unidentifiable crunch lurking among the layers, chances are what you are tasting is feuilletine. I like to think of it as the pastry chef’s best kept secret.

Unlike typical crunchy additions like rice crispies or corn flakes, feuilletine is so thin and delicate it almost disappears into the chocolate, at least until you take a bite, where it provides a noticeable crunch that’s so light and crispy it practically melts in your mouth.

Feuilletine also has the benefit of keeping its signature snap even when mixed into chocolate or other fat-based compounds. So again, unlike rice crispies which can soften and lose their crunch over time, feuilletine stays crunchy until the last bite is devoured.

You can easily make your own feuilletine, or buy it online in larger quantities from Amazon or specialty pastry stores.

There really isn’t an adequate replacement for the thin and delicately crispy flakes of feuilletine. Corn flakes or crushed up fortune cookies/ice cream cones are the most commonly recommended replacements, and they will work in this recipe (technically), but will result in a much coarser texture. Crisp rice cereal, puffed quinoa, or tiny puffed rice would produce a crunchy, candy-like bar of sorts, though the texture would be quite different from the feuilletine overall. I also find puffed rice/quinoa doesn’t hold it’s crunch nearly as well when coated in chocolate.

Needless to say, I highly recommend sticking to the recipe and using feuilletine, whether you buy it online or make it yourself is up to you.

Once you have the feuilletine in hand, however, whipping up this recipe is ridiculously easy. Here’s how:

As for serving and presentation, you have three options: cut, break, or dollop.

If you want neat bars like mine, use a square baking pan as a mold of sorts to give you a perfect square.

Then, you’ll need to make the cuts while the chocolate is still melty (trust me on this, I tried cutting the bark after it had set completely in the fridge and it was a complete mess).

I used a bench scraper to cut my bars into even rectangles while still in the baking pan, the square edge allowed me to get my cuts all the way in to the corners. Wipe the blade between cuts to keep things neat and tidy.

Once you’ve made your cuts, transfer the whole pan to the fridge and let it set until firm.

For a more freeform approach, skip the square baking pan and spread out your melted chocolate mixture onto a parchment- or silicone-lined baking sheet, anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick. The final shape or size doesn’t really matter. Transfer to the fridge until completely set, then break into roughly shaped pieces (I like to fold a piece of parchment over the bark to serve as a barrier between my warm hands and the chocolate, which, due to the added oil and fat from the Nutella, isn’t tempered and thus does tend to melt with the slightest touch).

This same recipe would even work as dollops, a sort of no-bake cookie if you will. Just drop spoonfuls of the melted chocolate and feuilletine mixture onto a parchment or silicone mat and then chill until set. This is maybe the easiest method of all!

Swaps and Substitutions

Think of this recipe as a starting point for all manner of chocolate and nutty combinations!

I used a 58% dark chocolate (Callebaut brand is my go-to for affordable but quality chocolate, not to mention it comes in callets so you don’t even have to chop it). That said, you can really use any chocolate you’d like here. I think a darker 60-70% bittersweet chocolate would be lovely, as would a mild and creamy milk chocolate too (note lower cacao percentages will produce a softer final product, so feel free to reduce the Nutella by a little bit if you want it firmer).

I think this recipe would work with white chocolate as well, maybe with peanut butter or pistachio creme in place of the Nutella?

And really, you can use any nut butter or praline paste (hazelnut praline is the most common, but you can make pecan praline too!) Even something like cookie butter or pistachio creme would work here.

Optionally, you can also mix in other goodies, like chopped hazelnuts for even more nutty goodness, dried fruit for some added chew, or mini marshmallows for an elevated rocky road-like treat.

I topped mine with a bit of crushed feuilletine and flake salt, but chopped hazelnuts, colorful sprinkles, or even a decorative drizzle of white or dark chocolate would add a lovely finishing touch and enhance the presentation even more.