-Depending on the power of your blender, it may take a bit longer to break down the hazelnuts.

-Make sure the hazelnuts have been broken down into almost a flour-like form before adding the other ingredients.

-Cocoa powder can be substituted for cacao powder if you wish.

-Hazelnuts are the dominant flavor here.  But if you want more chocolate-y flavor, add another tsp of cacao/cocoa powder.

-I use Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Double Rich Chocolate flavor.  This powder has a great chocolate taste with no weird aftertastes whatsoever.  This is why I only need 1 tsp of cacao powder.  Your protein powder may differ and alter the taste of the smoothie.  Experiment until you find the right taste.

-Vanilla extract can be added to enhance the flavor a bit, but I didn’t really notice much difference.

-Melt a square or two of the dark chocolate bar in a microwave for a minute or two.  After about a minute, stir up the chocolate with a fork just to help it melt down before you blast it in the microwave again.   Just drizzle it on top of the smoothie or mix it in with a spoon.

-I use about 4 squares of the Lily’s 70% Extra Dark Chocolate for the garnish.  With the Ghirardelli 72% Intense Dark, I would use about 1 or 2 squares.  Both go great with this smoothie!  I still have some leftover chocolate afterwards.  Adjust accordingly to your chocolate bar.

-To freeze the banana, remove it from the peel and chop it up into smaller pieces.  Then place them separate from each other on a plate in the freezer for at least 45 minutes.  Do this well in advance!

-This recipe is formulated for a nice, thick smoothie.  If the smoothie is too thick for you, add more almond milk to water it down some.

**Nutritional information is an approximation using Nutrifox, information from Google, and my own calculations to the best of my knowledge.  It is not the definitive values or guaranteed to be 100% accurate information.  Use only as a reference.**