This decadent chocolate hazelnut tart is packed with ground hazelnuts, graham crackers, & chocolate custard. Perfect for the chocolate addict in your life!
This chocolate hazelnut tart is decadent, rich, and creamy – a real chocolate lover’s dream! Despite how easy it is to pull together and the minimal ingredients list, it looks worthy of any bakery-case.
What Exactly is a Chocolate Tart?
Chocolate tarts are French desserts that consist of a rich, chocolate custard nestled into a pie crust. The common thread between all tarts? They are flour-less, dense, and extremely decadent. With each forkful of this tart, you’ll get the perfect combination of silky custard and nutty crust. Bon appetit!
How to Prepare this Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
Making this chocolate hazelnut tart requires you to whip up a quick, homemade custard and a simple pie crust of graham crackers and ground nuts.
- Make the Pastry Crust: In a food processor, blend both the hazelnuts and graham crackers until fine. In a large bowl, mix the hazelnuts, graham crackers, cocoa powder, confectioner’s sugar, and melted coconut oil. Press the dough mixture into a tart pan or baking dish and bake it at 400°F for 10 minutes.
- Make the Chocolate Custard: In a saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk the eggs, milk, and sweetened condensed milk together until it thickens. Turn off the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until they’re completely melted.
- Assemble the Chocolate Tart: Next, pour the custard into the tart crust and chill the tart in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Make the Chocolate Ganache Glaze: In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the chocolate chips into the milk. Next, stir in the honey until ultra-smooth. Allow the glaze to cool at room temperature. Then, spread it over the tart in one, even layer. Decorate the top if you wish and enjoy!
Tart Pan 101: To make the tart-making process that much easier, enlist the help of a tart pan! Much like a springform pan for cheesecake, they come with a removable bottom so removing the tart is easy as pie (or in this case…tart!).
3 Tips for a Perfect Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
- Don’t over blend the hazelnuts. If you over blend the hazelnuts, they will turn into nut butter. Blend them until they turn just fine in texture.
- Continuously mix the custard so it doesn’t burn. As you’re bringing the custard to a thick consistency, make sure to constantly whisk it. This will not only help it thicken, but it will also prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the small saucepan.
- If you’re using raw hazelnuts, toast them first. The crust tastes best with toasted nuts! To toast hazelnuts, throw them in a skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan every so often until the outside of the nuts turn slightly brown and a nutty aroma fills the air.
Hot Tip for a Perfect Tart Slice: Run a sharp knife under hot water, wipe it with a napkin, and slice the tart. Repeat before each slice for smooth, clean cut!
Storage Best Practices
Here, find all you need to know to keep your tart as fresh as possible in storage.
- Refrigerator: To keep the tart fresh for 4-5 days, store it in an airtight cake container in the fridge. This will keep the custard from hardening and the crust from drying out.
- Freezer: To freeze the tart for up to 1 month, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and gently place it in a plastic storage bag. To thaw the tart, place it in the fridge overnight.
FAQ
Why did your chocolate tart not set properly?
There are two reasons your chocolate tart did not set properly: 1) the custard wasn’t cooked long enough or 2) the tart didn’t have long enough to chill in the fridge. For the first cause, make sure the custard is cooked until it reaches the consistency of sweetened condensed milk. For the other cause, make sure the assembled tart has at least 1 hour to set in the fridge.
How do you know when your chocolate tart crust is fully-cooked?
Since the tart crust is flourless, it only needs about 10 minutes in the oven to bake to form. When you pull it out of the oven, it should be slightly firm to the touch and will continue to harden while it cools at room temperature.
Why is the custard filling for your custard tart runny?
The custard filling will turn out runny if it hasn’t been cooked long enough and to the right consistency. If it’s still runny after the allotted time in the recipe, cook it for an additional couple of minutes until it thickens.
Can you make mini chocolate tarts using a muffin tin?
Yes! You can make these tarts in a muffin pan instead if you want to make individual serving sizes. Depending on your oven, you may need to reduce the time you bake the crusts, so watch them closely the first time to make sure they don’t burn.
Why does your chocolate tart custard taste eggy?
The custard filling will taste eggy if you cooked it too long. This will cause the egg to scramble and the flavor will completely overpower the custard.
Other Hazelnut Treats to Try
- Golden Key Cake – Caramely hazelnut cake
- Chocolate Hazelnut Cake – Chocolate cake with hazelnuts and cream cheese frosting
- Ferrero Rocher Cake Recipe – A chocolate cake inspired by everyone’s favorite candy!
- Chocolate Biscotti Recipe with Hazelnuts – Hazelnut chocolate cracker cookies
Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup graham crackers finely ground
- 3/4 cup hazelnuts finely ground
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
- 5 tbsp coconut oil melted
Filling
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 9 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tbsp condensed milk
Glaze
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tsp honey
Instructions
Making the Crust
- Blend the hazelnuts in a food processor until the turn fine in texture. Next, blend the graham crackers until fine in texture.
- In a large bowl, mix the ground hazelnuts with the ground graham crackers, cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, and melted coconut oil.
- Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a 7-inch or 9-inch round baking or tart dish (it should be about 2 inches tall). Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes.
Whipping Up the Filling
- In a saucepan, whisk the eggs, milk, and sweetened condensed milk together.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and continually whisk the mixture until it thickens to the consistency of sweetened condensed milk. Immediately turn the heat off and stir in the chocolate chips until they are completely melted.
- Pour the filling into the prepared tart crust and pop the tart into the refrigerator for an hour.
Making the Glaze
- In a saucepan over medium-low heat, add in the chocolate chips and milk. While continuously stirring the mixture, add in the honey until you get one smooth, even glaze.
- Let the glaze cool to room temperature. Spread it evenly over the top of the tart. Decorate the top as you wish and refrigerate the tart until you're ready to serve it. Enjoy!
Can I use something besides coconut oil?
Hi Dana, you can. I prefer coconut oil for this recipe, but you can use whatever oil you prefer.
This is the first time I had one of your recipes not work for me lol
I don’t know why my filling who not thicken .... it was on low heat I stirred all the time !
I thought maybe it would thicken in the fridge but it didn’t ,the only thing that helped was to freeze it overnight and it was still gooey not frozen
Hi Vika- I'm so sorry to hear it didn't turn out as you'd hoped! My tips are to maybe turn the heat up a tad, like to medium-low (keeping a close eye on it and stirring often of course). And then make sure to add the chocolate chips off of the heat. I hope this helps you and that it turns out better next time!
I made this cake and it came out perfect!!! So so good. This will be my go to recipe.
Val, I am so happy to hear this! Thanks for sharing!
the filling did not work for me. ;( It fell apart and did not become thick at all. So watery.... Not sure what i have done wrong. I was really looking forward to trying this delicious dessert!
The eggs may not have been whisked enough while cooking, you have to constantly keep on mixing them.
I did mix while cooking.....i did it twice and both times nothing thickened. the mixture looked "clumpy"....Did i have to whisk the eggs prior to cooking or not ( i did whisk them before mixing with the condensed milk and the regular milk....). The crust is still sitting on the stove, all cooked, while i am trying to fix this situation.... 😉
1 1/4 cups Whole Milk, 9 ounces Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, 2 large Eggs, 4 tablespoons Condensed Milk are the ingredients
So it could turn out lumpy if you are not constantly whisking or the heat is too high, try cooking on a lower heat. This process always worked for me, I often use it in creating cake creams too.
Thank you, Natalya!!
Tell me if it turns out for you!
I made the cake and the flavors were amazing! still, the filling did not hold for me, it must have been the high heat like you said.... Next time, i will follow your tip!
Regardless, the taste of this cake is absolutely amazing!! Thank you for the great recipes!! I am a fan!!
Oh, I am sorry it was perfect but taste is all that matters. Enjoy it!!
very easy to make, thanks
No problem. I hope you enjoyed it.
I love hazelnuts, this must be really good!
yes it is totally amazing. I would eat a few slices right now lol
Thank you so much 🙂
Oh what beauty. You do not need to taste it to know it is delicious.
I love hazelnut! Looks delicious!
Let me know what you think!
Wow!! This looks so decadent! Will definetly make this soon!