25 pounds of chestnut flour. 0 Ideas.

[djyee100]

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...

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Have you considered developing the recipe for the Scharffenberger Chocolate Adventure contest?

http://www.chocolateadventurecontest.com/

[gfron1]

Each recipe entered must call for Scharffen Berger® Chocolate—either dark chocolate (mentioning exact cacao content anywhere from 62 to 99 percent) or milk chocolate or cocoa

Well that's BS! They don't even include their own white chocolate! I know its not chocolate, but come on...

[sbb1979]

There's a great recipe for the chestnut equivalent of a Chocolate Fondant in this book called Great French Chefs. I've always wanted to make it because I love chestnuts and love chocolate fondant, but have never gotten around to finding the flour.

Its a really lovely book anyway: http://www.amazon.com/Great-French-Chefs-J...24065717&sr=8-1

(if someone can link this through egullet then please let me know how...)

Don't know if it would work at all in chestnut soup - I love this when made with puree, thyme and good chicken stock. Other thing is - as people have said - pasta. You have to be more careful with the dough though, and don't replace all of the 00 with chestnut - can't remember the best proportions.

Amazing to think it was a peasant's ingredient isn't it!

[gfron1]

Here's the scone recipe that I created. A slightly longer version is at my blog:

3 C. All-Purpose Flour

3/4 C. Chestnut Flour

1/2 C. Sugar

1 T. Baking Powder

1/2 t. Salt

1.5 Sticks Butter

1 Egg

3/4 C. Milk

1/2 C. White Chocolate Chips (I used Callebaut)

1/2 C. Cacao Nibs

Oven 375 F

Sift flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together. In food processor, cut butter into dry mixture until course crumbs (Don't over-process). Stir in the chips and nibs. Pour into a bowl, make a well in the center. In small bowl, lightly mix the egg and milk. Pour liquid into well. Using wooden spoon, combine until it just comes together. If it seems too dry, add a bit more milk (It should be dry, but able to hold together).

Put on counter and knead lightly for 30 seconds. You want to keep the butter chunks distinct so they help form the flakiness of the scone. Roll dough out on lightly flour surface. I formed the dough into a square and cut it into 8 triangles, or you can be more traditional and use a round biscuit cutter. Brush the tops with cream (or milk), sprinkle with turbinado (or ground nuts) and bake for 10-15 minutes or until done.

[Alex]

A couple of weeks ago I needed to add one item to my shopping cart in order to get free shipping from nuts.com. I do gluten-free baking and I love chestnuts, so I said what the heck, I'll buy some chestnut flour. I was going to try making castagnaccio, but I'm now traumatized after reading gfron's post about it in this topic, so I'm thinking maybe something else for my first effort. A Google search turned up a promising "paleo" coffee cake. There's also Alice Medrich's Chestnut Pound Cake, mentioned upthread, plus gfron's scones directly above (some a-p flour in the recipe might be OK, or I can sub Bob's Red Mill 1:1). What else have you made with chestnut flour that you liked (or that you'd warn me away from)?