With my sweet tooth (teeth?), I needed to make sure there was at least one dessert on the Thanksgiving dessert table I could eat. This is one of those wonderful naturally gluten and dairy free desserts where you can’t go wrong. If you like hazelnuts and chocolate, you’re in for a treat. It’s a cinch to make with very few ingredients and it looks beautiful to serve too. This is a variation of Alice Medrich’s Chocolate Almond Torte in Pure Dessert.

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted
7 ounces dark chocolate chocolate (I used 72%)
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
7 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Cocoa for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch spring form cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Toast the hazelnuts and when cool enough to handle, rub the skin off. Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add the chocolate, 1/2 of the of the sugar, and the salt in a food processor and pulse until chopped, leaving some small chunks of chocolate.

Beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until somewhat frothy and soft peeks form for a moment.  Add the remaining sugar and continue beat until stiff peeks form. This is important! Be patient.

Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites 1/3 at a time. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for about 10 minutes and then remove from springform pan. Dust cocoa powder over the torte. Serve warm or room temperature.