Purée de Châtaigne

Food & Home

May 31

Today we’re going to be creating a delicious and super easy to make dessert utilising only two ingredients. Having grown up with my mother always making this, it always seemed like such a long and difficult process. Growing up in Croatia, chestnut puree was something my mother was always surrounded by and had became her favourite dessert. Chestnuts herald the beginning of Autumn and are around for only a limited amount of time so it’s definitely worth creating this whilst they’re still in season. As I went to remake this recipe over the weekend, my mother reminisced about her childhood, and the many ways people would eat them.

Purée de Châtaigne, literally translating to ‘puree of chestnut’ is a decadent dessert that is so easy to make and can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. My sister Maša is also a huge fan, and created a vegan version of this recipe available here.

4 servings

Ready in 1 hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients:

40 organic chestnuts (you can adjust depending on how much you want to yield, however, make sure you are not buying water chestnuts as those are completely different and not suitable for this recipe)
160 grams of organic fresh cream
Water for boiling
Optional natural sweetener such as xylitol or stevia (I made it without)

Directions:

Soak the chestnuts in cold water for 10 minutes to rinse any impurities from their husk.
With a knife, cut a line across the top of each chestnut so it is able to cook easily. Just a superficial and thin line is adequate. You are not cutting the chestnuts in half.
On high heat, add the chestnuts into a pot of boiling water, reduce to medium heat after about 20 minutes. Continue boiling the chestnuts for an additional 10-15 minutes.
When the chestnuts are cooked, drain the water and begin to peel as soon as possible, taking care not to burn your hands. It is important to peel as soon as possible as they become harder to peel as they cool.
Add the chestnut into a food processor to smooth out the consistency. We used a manual crank processor so the chestnuts are smoothed into a pellet-like puree. Xylitol or another natural sweetener can be added to the puree, however, I find the chestnuts are sweet enough on their own.
Set aside the chestnuts as you whip the cream in a separate bowl.
Blend the chestnut purée in with the cream and scoop into glass bowls.
Serve immediately.