Tuesday 17 December 2013

Chestnuts in Syrup

Marrons glacés, or candied chestnuts, are a great seasonal treat here. But they are also very expensive, so I decided to try my hand at making them at home.

I happened to have a bag of frozen chestnuts in the freezer, so I didn't have to spend the time peeling the blighters. I used these instructions from Not Quite Nigella to glacé my marrons.

The results were not up to a professional standard. My marrons are a sort of dull brown, not the rich chestnut that proper bought ones are. If you cut mine open, it is clear that the syrup has not penetrated very far.

However, they taste good and are ideal for using in chocolate petits fours or in chestnut cream (coupe mont blanc). I've chosen to keep them in the remaining syrup so they don't dry out, and drain them a few at a time, just  prior to use. Once the chestnuts themselves are gone, the syrup, which has a strong chestnut and vanilla flavour, will be used on icecream or other desserts. Yum!
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A la cuisine hier: Braised Beef with Carrots. Well, everyone else is cooking it at the moment, and I had all the ingredients.

5 comments:

Sheila said...

Yum is right! I'd give anything
to find frozen chestnuts at the
grocery store. Have to order them
on line in any form. Pretty much
have to stick to pecans here.


Ken Broadhurst said...

Susan, I hope you and Simone enjoyed the braised beef.

Sheila, I'd give my eye teeth for a big bag of pecans.

Susan said...

Ken: It turned out well, despite the fact that I did it from memory and forgot to add the leek tops.

Anton said...

Meanwhile I made my second Panforte!

Susan said...

Anton: excellent!

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