Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Tarts, Vegan and Gluten Free

This year for Thanksgiving I wanted to bring a dessert that I would be able to eat and that I could share with everyone. Looking on Pinterest I found the most amazing dessert recipe by Amy of Fragrant Vanilla Cake. The title of her recipe is what initially hooked me, Dark Chocolate Orange Hazelnut Tart, if that doesn’t say decadence, I don't know what would.

 So I clicked on the picture and went to her site to see if it was something I could pull off. Thankfully, her ingredients and instructions were really simple and easy to follow! I have posted her recipe link below, so you can see how amazing hers turned out.  

http://fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dark-chocolate-orange-hazelnut-tart.html

Enjoy Life is the brand of chocolate that I used in making my tart. They are listed as Vegan on the label as well as gluten free!  They are the most amazing vegan chocolate chips ever! I honestly think that these taste just as good as any chocolate bar out there. They are also nut, soy, wheat, mustard, sulfites, fish and sesame free!  

There are a couple minor things that I changed in order to make Amy's recipe:

1. I used Quinoa Flour instead of the almond flour or hazelnut meal. The flour is mild tasting, so it doesn’t change the taste of the dessert, also its still gluten free!
2. I substituted Coco Natura Coconut Sweetener for the brown sugar/maple sugar. Its just as sweet, and it's 100% natural and free from additives and artificial flavorings.
3. Instead of the suggested Mandarin Napolean or cognac, I just so happened to have a mini bottle of Grand Marnier. 
4. Finally instead of doing one large tart, I made mine in muffin tins. I love making individual sized portions, they are easy to serve and they are super cute!! However, because the portion size change when doing muffin tins, I had to double the filling in order to get a good ratio of crust to filling. To ensure the tarts were easy to remove I greased the bottom of the tins with coconut oil. 

I was extremely happy with the outcome of my mini chocolate tarts. The crust was sweet and solid, a perfect compliment to the soft, rich taste of the chocolate filling. Everyone at Thanksgiving was complimenting them and how they couldn't believe that they were dairy and gluten free. Some thought that the crust was too sweet, which is something that is easily altered in your own rendition of Amy's recipe. 

I really suggest you make these for your next family get together. They are really easy to make and yet pack a really big punch of flavour.

Thanks for reading!

xox -N