To begin preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F.
Bake the hazelnuts for 10 minutes. Rub with a clean tea towel, to remove the skins. Discard the skins. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and reserve for the topping.
Now heat the oven to 180°C/350°F and prepare the brownie.
Weigh the oats and, using a highspeed blender, blend them into a fine oat flour.
In a large mixing bowl add the oat flour, hazelnut meal, tapioca flour, cocoa, salt and bi carb. Give these ingredients a whisk to ensure there are no lumps.
Use a double boiler to melt your chocolate. *See original post if you need instructions on setting up a double boiler.
Once melted add in the coconut sugar, coffee, almond spread and vanilla essence.
Mix well to combine.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and gently mix until just combined. The mixture will be quite thick and not pourable, this is normal.
Spoon the mixture into a lined 20cm square tin, smooth out and press the extra choc chips and chopped hazelnuts onto the top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 12-15 minutes. Your brownie is done when it is slightly firm to touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container in the fridge, these keep well for 5 days.
For longer storage store in an airtight container in the freezer. When storing in the freezer line the container with a piece of baking paper and place a layer of baking paper between layers, to allow for easy removal of the pieces.