5 Ways to Use Chocolate Hazelnut Spread on Your Menu

One product, five menu categories. Here are some of the best ways to put Cacao Noël's Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread to work:

1. Filled into croissants and laminated pastry
2. Spread into crepes or drizzled over waffles
3. Swirled into brownie or blondie batter
4. Sandwiched into cookies
5. Whisked into a chocolate hazelnut coffee drink
   

Chocolate hazelnut spread is one of the few ingredients that can earn a spot in nearly every section of a café or bakery menu. Guests already know the flavor, and the category keeps growing: in 2025, the hazelnut chocolate spread market was estimated at $6.1 billion, according to Grand View Research's Hazelnut Chocolate Spread Market Report.

Key Takeaways:

• Cacao Noël's Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is bake-stable, so it holds up in the oven as well as it pipes, spreads, and drizzles cold.
• One 5 lb pail can cover pastry, brunch, baked goods, cookies, and coffee drinks.
• In 2025, hazelnut ranked as the second most popular coffee flavor, per Toast.
• One spread across five categories means fewer SKUs to order and store.

What Does a Professional Kitchen Need From a Chocolate Hazelnut Spread?

A professional kitchen needs a chocolate hazelnut spread that is bake-stable and survives the oven, performs the same way every batch, and comes in a size built for production. Retail jars are made for spreading on toast. They aren't formulated to hold a filling through a bake, and they run out fast at volume.

What Is a Bake-Stable Filling?

A bake-stable filling is formulated to hold its shape and texture through baking without melting out, scorching, or separating.

That bake stability is what makes the five applications below possible. A bake-stable chocolate hazelnut spread works as both a baked-in filling and a finishing spread, so a single product like Cacao Noël's Noella can cover croissants, brownies, crepes, cookies, and coffee drinks from one pail.

Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread:

• Format: Bake-stable chocolate hazelnut spread, ready to use
• Pack size: 5 lb pail
• Lead ingredient: Roasted hazelnuts, balanced with alkalized cocoa powder
• Storage: Dry, 68°F to 72°F, away from light and heat
• Designed for: Ganaches, centers, buttercreams, and mousses

See full specs on the Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread product page →

How Can You Use Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Across Your Menu?

Noella fits into five menu categories: the bakery case, brunch, baked goods, cookies, and the beverage menu. Here's the quick view before the details.

1. Fill It Into Croissants and Laminated Pastry

A filled croissant usually sells at a higher price point than a plain one, and the filling stays inside instead of pooling on the sheet pan.

Two ways to fill:

• Bake it in: Pipe a line of Noella onto the dough before rolling, the same way you'd place a baton for pain au chocolat.
• Fill after baking: Bake the croissant plain, then pipe the spread into the base.

How much: About 15 to 20 g per croissant. That's enough for a visible ribbon of filling in every bite without weighing down the lamination.

Finish with: Chopped toasted hazelnuts or a dusting of cocoa powder.

Also works for: Cruffins, twice-baked croissants, and filled pâte feuilletée twists.

For more on building out a laminated program, see our guide to laminated pastries →

2. Spread It Into Crepes or Drizzle It Over Waffles

Crepes and waffles turn chocolate hazelnut spread into a brunch item with almost no added labor. There's no cooking step for the spread itself, so the line stays fast during a busy service.

For crepes: Spread Noella thin across a crepe right off the pan, fold it into quarters, and add fruit.

For waffles: Warm the spread gently until it loosens to a drizzling consistency. Use a bain-marie, or microwave in 10-second bursts and stir between each one. Aim for just warm to the touch, around 95°F to 105°F (35°C to 40°C). Overheated nut spreads separate, so stop as soon as it flows.

Pair either one with:

• Sliced banana or strawberries
• Whipped cream
• Toasted hazelnuts
• A pinch of flaky sea salt

3. Swirl It Into Brownie or Blondie Batter

Swirling Noella into brownie or blondie batter adds richness and a visual marble that sells itself in the case. Bake stability keeps the swirl defined instead of sinking or bleeding into the crumb.

How to swirl:

1. Pour the batter into the pan.
2. Dollop Noella across the surface.
3. Drag an offset spatula through it in a figure-eight pattern.
4. Bake as usual.

On blondies, the dark swirl stands out against the pale crumb, so guests see the flavor before they taste it.

4. Sandwich It Into Cookies

Sandwich cookies give chocolate hazelnut spread a shareable, grab-and-go format. Noella holds at room temperature, so finished cookies work in a retail case or a to-go bag without refrigeration.

Cookie bases that work well:

• Sablés
• Shortbread rounds
• Thin oatmeal cookies

For crunch: Fold Cacao Noël Feuilletine or Crunchy Pearls into the spread before piping.

How to sell them: In packs of three, or as minis on a dessert board.

5. Build a Hazelnut Chocolate Coffee Drink

A chocolate hazelnut coffee drink extends Noella from the pastry case onto the beverage menu. The flavor has a built-in audience: in 2025, Toast ranked hazelnut as the second most popular coffee flavor after caramel, according to its guide to popular coffee flavors.

Whisking a chocolate hazelnut spread into espresso turns an ingredient the kitchen already stocks into a signature drink, without adding a new syrup SKU.

Tip: The coffee drink is what ties the whole menu together. A hazelnut latte next to a hazelnut croissant is an easy combo to promote, and both come from the same pail.

Building a filled-pastry program or a drink lineup? Our pastry chefs can help you dial in fill weights and ratios

Contact your local distributor to add Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread to your next order →

Why Use One Spread Across Five Menu Categories?

Running one spread across five categories simplifies the back of house while keeping flavor consistent from the pastry case to the coffee bar. Why stock a filling, a sauce, and a syrup when one pail covers all three?

What this spread does for your operation:

• Fewer SKUs: One product to order instead of three or four
• Less storage: One pail on the shelf, no refrigeration needed
• Consistent flavor: The same base across every item
• Easy cross-promotion: A latte guest is already primed for the croissant, brownie, or cookie
• Simpler seasonal specials: Swap the finish, keep the base

Put Noella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread to Work on Your Menu

Croissants, crepes and waffles, brownies and blondies, sandwich cookies, and chocolate hazelnut coffee: that's five menu categories from one product.

Noella's bake stability is what makes the range possible, and its 5 lb pail is sized for kitchens that will use it every day.

Ready to add it to your lineup? Find a distributor carrying Cacao Noël →

Frequently Asked Questions About Chocolate Hazelnut Spread