25 pounds of chestnut flour. 0 Ideas.

[gfron1]

Okay, okay, maybe an idea or two, but anyone want to toss me a chestnut bone and give me some obscure international pastry that I don't know of yet so I can enjoy my day off tomorrow?

[tmriga]

Sorry that I don't know you well enough to suggest something you haven't tried yet, but www.frenchpastrychef.com has it's cookbook online. It offers recipes for a chestnut tart and for cream alpine.

http://frenchpastrychef.com/pastry/0105cheastnutart.shtml

http://frenchpastrychef.com/pastry/0309alpine.shtml

Theresa

[andiesenji]

There are several wonderful Italian desserts that are based on chestnut flour.

Castagnaccio is one

Another is chestnut fritters.

and you can substitute chestnut flour for a good portion of the flour in most biscotti recipes

and substitute it for almond or hazelnut flour in any pastry that includes those nut flours.

These should give your some ideas.

There is also the interesting dessert that includes lots of eggs, combined with al dente angel-hair pasta and a shell made of chestnut flour, egg whites and sugar - sort of like a meringue.

I have the recipe somewhere and if I can find it, will post it. I can't recall the exact name and it doesn't seem to be filed under my usual "special ingredients" category.

Edited September 29, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[gfron1]

Both of those sites are very cool and ones I haven't seen before. Theresa - I couldn't get the instructions to open for me...it said I had 5 free samples (I assume I have to subscribe after that), but they didn't open.

[CanadianBakin']

If it can replace almond or hazelnut then maybe you could make macarons with it.

[pastrygirl]

Dolce Italiano (Babbo Desserts) by Gina DePalma has a couple of recipes.

[cinnamonshops]

there's a recipe somewhere on chocolate&zucchini for some very nice biscotti involving chestnut flour and, i think, praline paste?

or chestnut flour pasta?

[andiesenji]

there's a recipe somewhere on chocolate&zucchini for some very nice biscotti involving chestnut flour and, i think, praline paste?

or chestnut flour pasta?

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How about chestnut flour goncchi?

and in my "links" file under "Nuts & Stuff" I found

this interesting site

Which seems to have a plethora of interesting things about chestnuts and etc.

Still haven't found the recipe for the Catherine d'Medici cake/confection.

Edited September 29, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[sazji]

I made a chestnut cheesecake that was really nice. I used puree which I made myself, but what's chestnut flour other than....rather dry chestnut puree? Of course the puree was from boiled chestnuts. I'm sure you could adapt. The recipe's in recipe gullet.

[Jenni]

Chestnut flour pancakes are divine. There are quite a few recipes online, just google.

[gfron1]

Castagnaccio is in the oven and Jenni's comment led me to put it in tonight's pizza dough. I wish I had the time to age my dough for tomorrow...

[ejw50]

how is it that you bought 25 lbs of chestnut flour without a definite use for it?! lol

[gfron1]

I can find a use for anything and I had a good price...always the bargain hunter.

I made the castagnaccio, and it was the godawfulestmostdisgustingcrap ever! Don't take it personally Andie. I think what happened is that my flour is from roasted chestnuts and so my cake/tart tasted like if smoked bacon had sex with Elmer's paste...this was its love child. Oddly enough it was fairly decent with a bottle of pinot grigio. As Tyler said, "It's not horrid, but it is the second worst thing you've ever made." (The first being the infamous rose water trifle incident of 2005.)

[prasantrin]

. . .my cake/tart tasted like if smoked bacon had sex with Elmer's paste...this was its love child. . .

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That was beautiful.

[CalumC]

What about a chestnut flour white sauce. Same as you would normally, (roux-milk). God knows what after that, lasagne/canneloni maybe?

[terryturbojr]

On Rick Stein's Med Escapes (UK show) he ate a dish called pulenda at one place. Can't say he was too enamoured with it although he said it went quite well with the local figatellu sausage. It was just chestnut flour boiled up with water (like polenta) then cut with a wire, not that the wire will affect the taste much.

There's a recipe here, and a few other chestnut flour recipes too:

http://www.corseboutique.fr/les%20recettes...11e14b8415b37f6

[andiesenji]

I can find a use for anything and I had a good price...always the bargain hunter.

I made the castagnaccio, and it was the godawfulestmostdisgustingcrap ever!  Don't take it personally Andie.  I think what happened is that my flour is from roasted chestnuts and so my cake/tart tasted like if smoked bacon had sex with Elmer's paste...this was its love child.  Oddly enough it was fairly decent with a bottle of pinot grigio.  As Tyler said, "It's not horrid, but it is the second worst thing you've ever made."  (The first being the infamous rose water trifle incident of 2005.)

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Oooooooooh. Sounds horrid.

I can't imagine why, just having roasted chestnuts ground into flour should make that much difference in the flavor.

The stuff I have made had a subtle flavor of chestnuts with the raisins (I used Sultanas), pinenuts and walnuts with just a hint of rosemary. The texture was close to that of somewhat crisp brownies.

[gfron1]

Well, for what its worth, here's my castagnaccio pre-baking

And the same after baking

And my face pre-swallow

And the same after swallowing

We've revised our love-child description. If Lapsong Souchong had sex with Elmer's Paste, this would be the love child. Enjoy!

[Lior]

hysterical!!!!

[tmriga]

Gfron1 -

I had no problem getting into the instructions. I suggest you use your browser settings.

I am new here, and I do not know what the policy is for posting recipes from other websites. Would someone please let me know? If it's alright, I can copy and post the recipes for you instead.

Oh, and you're right, that castagnaccio doesn't look like anything I would eat, either.

Theresa

[andiesenji]

Rob, your castagnaccio looks about twice as thick as the way I make it but that should not have much effect on the flavor. It also looks wetter than mine.

How does the raw flour taste?

If I can get a bit of time between now and when I leave next week, I will try to bake a batch.

I think I have some chestnut flour in the freezer with my other "exotic" baking ingredients that tend to go rancid rapidly. I know I bought some last December and don't recall using it all.

Will see you sometime after the 12th as I am stopping in Phoenix for a couple of days to see friends in the area before driving on to Deming.

[gfron1]

That's right! I'll make you a batch to celebrate your visit

And Theresa - you can post recipes if you put them in your own words. The list of ingredients can be verbatim, but the instructions can't. I'll try the site again in the meantime. Or, you can PM me the recipe. Thanks.

[djyee100]

I knew I knew I knew I had recently come across a recipe I wanted to try with chestnut flour, but I couldn't bring it up from the (mental) database. Then another EGullet thread jogged the answer loose. Alice Medrich's Chestnut Pound Cake:

http://kitchenmusings.typepad.com/my_weblo...imes-subtl.html

I'm wondering where I can buy some chestnut flour, and there you are with 25 lbs of it.

Hope you have better luck if you try this recipe!

[gfron1]

This "roasted" chestnut flour is really strong, so today I thought about how I could complement and tame the smokiness. I made some basic scones, added the flour, white chocolate, cacao nibs. They turned out really well. Smoke and white chocolate...mmmm...

[Tri2Cook]

Smoke and white chocolate...mmmm...

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Yep, smoke and white chocolate are definitely in the "mmmm" category. I try to keep a couple lbs. on hand all the time. When it gets low, I smoke some more. Same with smoked milk chocolate. Smoked dark chocolate is nice but the combo seems to accentuate the bitterness of both the chocolate and the smoke so it requires a little more thought in using (unless you like that bitterness).

I don't have a suggestion for the chestnut flour, the only thing I've ever used it for is pasta dough. On an unrelated note, I was browsing through the "interesting" section of the only local grocery store this morning and noticed coconut flour. Don't know a thing about it but I have to play with that one. I'm excited to see this section in the store because, until very recently, the most exotic thing in the store was kiwis and gelatin sheets.