Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse Tart

I made this Chocolate-Hazelnut mousse a while back and I was eager to make it again. It was a perfect opportunity to transform the simple mousse into a fancy mousse tart for our friend Laura's b'day brunch and I made some extra for my co-workers.

I browsed for recipes and found a recipe for the tart on this blog. She has some really great recipes that I cannot wait to try. I didn't want to settle for a store-bought tart because I always have a desire to make everything from scratch, this way I can be creative with the ingredients. This does make it really difficult for me to bake because I would have to follow recipes word by word. I have made mistakes while baking and tried to "fix" them. Luckily, it has worked out so far. I would cry if I ever had to throw away cake batter or an entire batch of cupcakes. I will share an incident that recently happened in a different post along with the recipe for delicious Chocolate Cupcakes.

Hazelnut Tart

Ingredients

6 graham cracker sheets
1/3 cup skinned toasted hazelnuts
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
4 tbsp unsalted better, melted and cooled

Steps

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a food processor, add graham crackers, hazelnuts, salt and sugar. Pulse until the mixture is fine.
3. While the food processor is running, add melted butter and let the food processor run until mixed well.
4. Press the mixture in an 8" pie pan.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
6. Let it cool.

Topping

Ingredients

1/3 cup skinned hazelnuts
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water

Steps

1. In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients.
2. Bring to boil and let it simmer for about 1 minute.
3. Drain the hazelnuts and place them on a parchment paper lined pan.
4. Bake at 350° F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Let it cool.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2-3/4 cup Nutella
1 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp hot water

Steps

1. In a small bowl, mix instant coffee in hot water, let it cool.
2. Add Nutella to coffee+hot water.
3. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, whip heavy cream until it form stiff peaks.
4. Gently fold in Nutella+Coffee mixture to whipped cream.
5. Spread the mousse on the pie crust.
6. Refrigerate for about 2 hours.
7. Garnish with shaved dark chocolate and hazelnuts.

How to toast hazelnuts:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F.
2. Place hazelnuts in a baking pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
3. While they are still hot, wrap the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel for a minute.
4. Rub the hazelnuts with the kitchen towel to remove the skin.