It is almost Christmas, but there is no way that I am not going to share this recipe , although it is a bit for the autumn. There are still chestnuts on the market, and the bonbons are such a fairy tail delicacy that they easily turn into a celebration dessert. The combination of tastes is balanced and very well underlined from the bitterly sourness of Galliot chocolate, because of which this recipe exists. Other than that the idea or the inspiration for came quite a long time ago in the spring, I’ve found a recipe for chestnut bonbons in a very old book of my mother. I’ve instantly loved the idea and couldn’t wait until the autumn. Consequently the interpretation and the recipe itself changed, so I consider myself an author. The dessert is vegan, because it does not contain any animal fat. The animal products are replaced by hazelnut milk and cocoa butter, which are giving an entirely new taste to the chestnut mixture. The light nut scent of the hazelnut and the velvet butterness of the cocoa and the sweetness of the chestnuts are, I repeat, a fairy tail! I admit it, in home we made those a couple of times, but they were never enough. It is a bit of occupying to peel and clean the chestnuts, but I don’t recommend using the canned ones. It is totally different, everything from tin can is different, let’s admit it. So I was saying it is a bit of an occupying job, but with an assistant you will sing and cook. Well there are the holidays, prepare the dessert with friends or family. One boils, another one cleans, sweet talking, licking chocolate fingers, enjoying a glass of wine, or…tea if you will. Or preferably a cup of cocoa, but don’t go too far with the cocoa products after all.
Ingredients:
500g. chestnuts
200g. hazelnuts (100g for milk)
100g. Galliot chocolate
1t.s cocoa butter Galliot
½g. brown sugar
½t.c. water
Boil and peel the chestnuts while they are still warm. For the chestnut cream you will need little bit of hazelnut milk. For that purpose soak the hazelnuts for a couple of hours in water and mill them with one-two cups of water. Squeeze out the pulp. After that proceed with making a dense sugar syrup. Put the sugar and the water in the pot and start boiling the syrup until it becomes dense. The denser the syrup – the tighter the crème will be. Also you can use ½ t.c liquid melassa.
Before preparing the cream, take care for the chocolate base. If you are using raw hazelnuts it is good to bake them just a little in a frying pan, just so they can release their aromas, without having to bake them whole. After you bake them, cut them with a knife or put them in the blender. On a water bath melt down the chocolate and add the hazelnuts to it. Put a sheet of baking paper inside a chosen baking form and pour the mixture inside it. Lay it in the fridge until it tightens up.
Now to prepare the crème. Put the cleaned chestnuts in a blender or any other kind cutting device and add the milk. Strain them until they become an even consistency crème. Transfer the blend into something appropriate for boiling and add the syrup. Heat the mixture and stir until it becomes denser. And finally for aroma and density add the butter. Leave it cool down and tighten up a bit. Take the chocolate base out of the fridge and distribute the crème evenly on the whole surface. Tuck it with the ends of the paper on the sides and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours more. After it is ready cut it to squares and put a whole hazelnut in the middle of each square.
