Yes, this is exactly what it looks like: a giant nut butter cup that rivals anything you’d find at the store. Actually, it’s better, because the filling—made with hazelnuts here—is faintly crumbly, just like the original, and crispy-crunchy thanks to the addition of crushed-up ice cream cones. You could use a knife dipped in hot water and wiped clean to cut the tart into neat slices, but joyously hacking into it with abandon is more in keeping with the holiday spirit.
Hazelnuts feel festive and apropos of the holidays but peanuts or pecans (my personal favorite) are excellent swaps. Toast them as you would the hazelnuts.
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What you’ll need
9-Inch Tart Pan
$11 At Amazon
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Food Processor
$63 At Amazon
Scale
$27 At Amazon
Small Offset Spatula
$9 At Amazon
Silicone Spatula
$13 At Amazon
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Ingredients
8–12 servings
2½
1
7
7
2¼
4
1
1¼
4
Special equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°. Toast 2½ cups (350 g) hazelnuts, preferably blanched, on a rimmed baking sheet until golden brown in the center, 10–12 minutes. Let cool. If nuts are unblanched, rub together in a clean kitchen towel to remove skins; discard skins.
Step 2
Using a paper towel, lightly grease bottom and sides of tart pan with vegetable oil. If you’d like to eventually remove tart from bottom of pan, line with a parchment paper round. Melt 7 oz. semisweet chocolate (about 60% cacao), chopped (about 1 cup), 7 oz. milk chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup), and ¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or Morton kosher salt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan filled with 1" of barely simmering water, stirring with a heatproof rubber spatula, until just melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Pour about half of chocolate into prepared pan (eyeballing is fine!); set remaining chocolate aside. Using a small spoon, spread chocolate across bottom and up sides of pan, working it all the way to edges of pan. Place on a rimmed baking sheet or large plate and chill in freezer until chocolate is set, at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile, pulse hazelnuts and remaining 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a food processor until a paste forms, about 4 minutes. Add 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, and 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil; process until the texture of smooth peanut butter, about 4 minutes. Add 1¼ cups (138 g) powdered sugar; pulse until combined (mixture will be thick).
Step 4
Crush 4 sugar or waffle ice cream cones in a medium bowl until pieces are about peanut-size. Scrape hazelnut butter into bowl and mix until well combined (using your hands might be most efficient). Scrape hazelnut butter filling into chocolate shell and gently press down into shell to compact into an even layer; smooth surface with an offset spatula.
Step 5
Scrape remaining melted chocolate over nut butter (reheat slightly if needed), spreading all the way to the edges. Smooth surface with offset spatula or spoon. Sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt, then chill tart in freezer until chocolate is set and sides of tart are pulling away from pan, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
Step 6
Gently pop tart out of pan. (If pan is lined with parchment paper, remove bottom and peel away parchment; discard.) Transfer tart to a large plate and thaw in fridge 30 minutes.
Step 7
Let tart sit at room temperature 15–20 minutes before cutting into thin wedges.
Do ahead: Tart can be made 2 days ahead. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and keep chilled.
Leave a Review
Reviews (5)
Back to TopI agree, the flavor was good (maybe even too sweet) but the filling texture was odd. It was very crumbly when cut and tasted dry.
Anonymous
New York, NY
11/29/2022
I love the flavor but the filling is the wrong texture. It was overly dry and broke and you couldn't cut it. It was like a butterfinger in texture but then with way too thick of chocolate. Also the chocolate in the curvy tart pan is just strange because it's too thick and I used butter instead of oil but then there was this tacky butter with the chocolate.
Mari
Chioco
11/22/2022
Flavor is lovely, but I have several recommended adjustments. Adding crumbled sugar cones is just odd. I left them out, because I didn't want to minimize the hazelnut flavor, and the cones' crunch would certainly deteriorate, and who needs flavorless added sugar? Also, the recipe already filled the pan, so the crumbs would have raised the final chocolate layer over the top of the pan. Except for any topping salt you might add (I didn't), there's no need to call out brand name salts; that just screams Advertiser Placement. The processing times are way too long. Just watch the bowl of the processor. I only needed half a minute each time. I think if I made this again I'd use butter on the sides of the pan, as the oil won't stay put, and the edges broke a bit when removing the rim. Don't let this come to room temp before cutting or the filling will squish out. Better to thaw in the fridge and cut cold with a thin, dry knife (wipe clean but don't use water). In any case, this layer of chocolate IS going to break, so you won't get clean cuts. I'd say this serves 12-16, as it's really candy rather than dessert.
Anonymous
Santa Fe, NM
11/3/2022