I’m happy to be participating in the third ever Virtual Vegan Potluck. This is my second time participating, and suprise – I made a dessert. Last potluck, I brought a delicious Vegan French Silk Pie, which has actually become my most visited recipe on my blog. In the last six months I have ditched gluten and soy, so this time around I’m bringing a wonderfully rich, decadent Chocolate Hazelnut Tart with Hazelnut Butter Caramel Sauce topped with fleur de sel – completely vegan, gluten and soy free.
This dessert is best serve chilled, and removed from the fridge right before serving. When it comes to room temperature, it becomes a little bit soft and crumbly, but is still quite tasty. The filling is almost raw, and although I did not test it, I believe the crust could be made raw by skipping the baking altogether, and freezing before filling. If you try this, let me know! I don’t have a tart pan, so I made it in an 8×8-inch cake pan, which worked great. If you have a tart pan, then yours will turn out even better. I did also make this as 12 mini tarts. If you do this, just cut the baking time by about 10 minutes.
Chocolate Hazelnut Tart with Hazelnut Butter Caramel Sauce
Vegan, Gluten-free, Soy-free
makes 1 8 X 8″ square tart, or 12 mini tartlets
Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup hazelnut flour*
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder, dutch processed – sifted
1 tablespoon organic maple sugar {or vegan cane sugar}, (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil (or vegan, soy-free butter), at room temperature
Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder, dutch processed – sifted
1/4 cup pure cacao butter, melted
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon alcohol-free pure vanilla extract
Hazelnut Butter Caramel Sauce:
2 tablespoons organic maple sugar
1 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon soy-free, vegan butter {or coconut oil}
1/4 cup hazelnut butter*
3 tablespoons almond milk
1 teaspoon alcohol-free pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
*To make hazelnut flour and hazelnut butter, I explain it in this post. You can substitute almond flour and almond butter.
To make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Line an 8×8-inch cake pan with parchment paper so that all sides are covered and crust will be easy to lift out. Sift together the hazelnut flour, almond flour, cocoa, maple sugar and salt until well combined. Add the coconut oil and mix well. Press the dough into the pan so that it covers the bottom and about an inch up the sides. Bake in the center of the oven for 15 minutes, rotate pan, and bake another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, then cover and place in the fridge until ready to fill.
To make the filling: Cacao butter is solid at room temperature, so I like to melt it before adding it to recipes. To do this, cut or break off a few chunks of cacao butter and place in a clean glass mason jar. Place the jar in a cup half-full of boiling water. The cacao butter will start to melt slowly. When liquified, measure it out into 1/4 cup (or 4 tablespoons). In a bowl, whisk the warm cacao butter into the sifted cocoa powder until a nice chocolate paste forms, then add the maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk until silky smooth. Pour the chocolate filling immediately into the prepared crust that has been cooled. Spread the filling till it reaches the sides of the crust using a rubber spatula. Cover tart and refrigerate until seconds before serving. Slice the tart into 12 equal squares.
To make the caramel: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the maple sugar, maple syrup and vegan butter until it comes to a slight bubble. Add the hazelnut butter and almond milk and use a rubber spatula to combine. Allow mixture to return to a slow boil and let cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and salt. Slowly stir with the rubber spatula until creamy. Let cool for a few minutes and pour into a squeeze bottle. Top slices of the tart with the caramel sauce right before serving. Sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top of caramel if you’d like.
Serve with tea or wine, well after a nice vegan potluck dinner.
To go on to the next recipe in the potluck, click here. To return to the recipe before mine, click here. To start from the beginning of the potluck, click here.
RansomCakes! 