Pâte de marrons (chestnut paste)

[underused]

This is a slightly abbreviated version of a recipe I posted on the Cookbook at Imzy last fall. It's chestnut season again and I thought it might be a good time to revisit this easy and impressive treat.

Pâte de marrons—chestnut paste--is a common topping offered by Parisian crepe vendors. Nutty and sweet, it's halfway between chestnut butter and something like marzipan. Think Nutella. It's tasty on waffles or toast or, if you're the type of person who eats things from a spoon, plain. (If you're ambitious, it's also good for macarons, meringues, or Mont Blanc. Let me know how that goes. ☺)

Peeling the chestnuts is the most tedious part of this process. That will probably take an hour. If you can prepare the sugar at the same time, once the nuts are peeled, the rest of this is the work of five minutes.

One excellent tip offered by an Imzy commenter was to boil chestnuts a handful or two at a time. They're easiest to peel when they're still hot, so you can peel one batch as you prepare the next.

C'est bon!

Pâte de marrons

INGREDIENTS

3 cps chestnuts
1 cp sugar
½ cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

Prepping your chestnuts: Using a small sharp knife, score chestnuts on the flat side with a small “x.” Boil for 15 minutes, drain and peel. (Make sure you remove both the shell and the thin membrane beneath.) The chestnuts should be softened, but not mushy. If, after peeling, you find they are still chewy, return to boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a small saucepan, mix sugar and water and bring to a boil. This is basically simple syrup. Boil for about 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Mix sugar mixture and chestnuts and purée in small batches. Your resulting texture should be slightly grainy-looking but still smooth.

Put the purée back on the stove at medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in a tiny pinch of salt and half your vanilla and taste. If you prefer more vanilla, add the other half.

Store in a jar in the refrigerator (it will last for a couple of weeks) or freeze for later use.

NOTES

The chestnuts I used are from a Chinese Chestnut tree. Like the American Chestnut, they have treacherously spiky shells (pictured above).

CHESTNUTS FROM A HORSE CHESTNUT TREE ARE POISONOUS. They look like this. If you're not sure what sort of chestnuts you have, don't eat them. Grocery stores will carry the safe kinds--especially around the holidays.

Comments

[wickedlittletown]

Sounds delicious. Must try it next time I buy chestnuts.

[underused]

For something I'd always considered decadent and exotic, making it was absurdly easy. I highly recommend!

[amidthestars]

I remember this and it was so wonderful.

[underused]

HA. I was thinking of you as I was peeling the chestnuts this year. It was a LOT faster than when you were here--on all fronts. Instead of trying to collect them all at once, I picked them up over days, and boiling in batches made peeling easy. Pureeing was still a goopy mess, but I guess wanting things to be completely effortless would be unreasonable. ☺