Often I get asked “what can you do with chestnut puree?” Here are a couple of great ideas from people who have purchased our products and used them to make delicious desserts.

 

From time to time I get lovely emails from customers who share their recipes using our products. Over Christmas I got one particular recipe from Christine from Ferny Creek in Victoria who was using our sweetened chestnut puree in a Nigella Lawson recipe for Chocolate Chestnut refrigerator cake. It sounded lovely and she sent me the recipe. I made it and it’s absolutely delicious. However I don’t like having parts of jars of puree or other ingredients left over so I’ve changed the quantities to use one whole jar of chestnut puree and a whole 200g block of chocolate. I’ve changed the name to Chocolate Chestnut Terrine in memory of a chocolate terrine Brian and I had at Tetsuya’s in Sydney around 10 years ago that is indelibly imprinted on my memory.  Nigella uses rum in her recipe but mentioned that her grandmother used orange and Grand Marnier. Chestnuts and orange are perfect partners, so I went with her grandmother’s original and stuck to the Grand Marnier (Cointreau would work well too). In fact, this recipe is so easy and quick that once you’ve tried it, you’ll want to play around with the ingredients to suit your own tastes. Rum, brandy, Baileys or Frangelico would all work well but if you go with these I’d omit the orange zest. For my recipe Chocolate Chestnut Terrine

 

Debbie from Purga in Queensland sent through a photo of a wonderful Buche de Noel she made for Christmas. It was a gluten free swiss roll made with chestnut flour and a filling of chestnut puree, vanilla and cream cheese. These cakes are common in France at Christmas time and traditionally use chestnut puree in the filling but are rarely seen in Australia. All the decorations are edible and she has done a great job – it all looks so professional and all gluten free!