Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

Incredibly easy, incredibly gorgeous and incredibly delicious. This should be your go-to when you need a show-stopper of a dessert but you don't know how to bake.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
(adapted from Real Simple Magazine)

baking soda
3/4 cup hazelnuts
30 plain chocolate wafer cookies
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate
big fat flaky salt (fleur de sel or similar, definitely not table salt or kosher salt)

Bring a medium-large saucepan of water to boil. Add a couple tablespoons of baking soda. It will come to a furious sputtering boil. Add the hazelnuts. The water will turn a horrendously ugly color as the baking soda and hazelnut skins chemically react. After a few minutes (3? 4?), drain them and use a towel to rub off the skins. They don't have to be perfect, but do the best you can because the skins tend to be bitter. And unsightly.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts on a sheet pan and bake them for 10-12 minutes. You want them to be toasty smelling and beginning to color, but not overly.

In a food processor, grind about 1/2 cup hazelnuts. Add the cookies and butter. Pulse until moist and crumbly. Press into a 14x4 rectangular tart pan. If you've ever made a graham cracker crust, pretend you're doing that.

Put the tart pan on the sheet pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. You want it to be starting to dry out and looking sort of "set". Cool it on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, heat the cream until simmering. Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate. Let it cool for a few minutes until it just barely starts to thicken, then pour it into the cooled crust. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Chop the rest of the nuts, about 1/4 cup. Sprinkle them over the tart. Refrigerate till you're ready to serve it. Sprinkle on some flaky salt and cut into narrow slices.