For the crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the hazelnuts and sweetener in a food processor or Magic Bullet.
3. Pulse until fully granulated, but do not overmix or you’ll have hazelnut butter.
4. Pour into a medium sized bowl.  If there are a few chunky pieces that’s ok, but remove any whole hazelnuts, and blend those again until powdered and add them back in.
5. Add the almond flour, melted butter and cocoa powder to the hazelnut mixture.
6. Blend with a fork until a uniform dough forms.
7. Press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan.
8. Bake for 8 minutes.
9. Remove and reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.

For the filling:

1. While the crust is pre-baking, combine the softened cream cheese, eggs, sweetener, cocoa powder, hazelnut extract and vanilla extract in a large blender.
2. Blend until smooth.  This may require you to scrape the sides with a rubber spatula a few times until it’s smooth enough to blend easily.
3. Once a uniform batter is reached, set aside until the crust is ready.  Once the crust has been par-baked and cooled for five minutes, pour the batter into the pan over the crust.
4. Return to the oven and bake for 1 hour.
5. Turn off heat and leave in the oven for an additional 30 minutes with the door cracked open about 10 inches – make sure no pets or toddlers can get near it as it will be hot.
6. Remove the cheesecake and chill at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, before cutting and serving with optional whipped cream and chocolate/hazelnut garnish if desired.