Chestnut

Chestnut Cream (Crème de Marrons)

by:
February 24, 2016
4
3 Ratings
Chestnut Cream (Crème de Marrons)
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Makes about 1 cup
Author Notes

I like to use crème de marrons anywhere I would use Nutella or almond butter: stirred into plain yogurt or oatmeal; dolloped on vanilla ice cream; or spread onto pancakes. Chestnut cream is also a key ingredient in some pretty fancy-pants French desserts. —Catherine Lamb

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds chestnuts, in shells
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
Directions
  1. Peel the chestnuts. You can do this with your favorite method, if you have one, or use the one that worked for me: First, score your chestnuts with an “X” deep enough to cut through the outer skin. Place about ten at a time in a 400° F oven (work with relatively small batches of chestnuts, as it's easiest to peel the nuts while they're still warm). Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the skin starts to peel back around the “X.”
  2. Transfer chestnuts onto a towel and peel as soon as they’re cool enough to handle. If the skin is stubborn or difficult, return chestnuts to the oven for a few minutes.
  3. Once chestnuts are peeled, put them in a pot and cover them with about an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until the chestnuts are very tender when pierced with a fork.
  4. Meanwhile, combine sugar and water in a large skillet. Turn the heat on medium-low and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
  5. Drain chestnuts. Purée in food processor with 1/4 cup of the sugar liquid until smooth (depending on your food processor, you might have to do this in two batches). If you need more liquid to purée, do so.
  6. Scrape chestnut purée into the pot with sugar water and stir to combine. Add the vanilla and the salt. Put over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's thick enough to not fall off a spoon when you turn it upside down. This only took me a minute or two.
  7. Let cool and serve! You can push the pur®re through a strainer if you want it extra extra smooth, but I was cool with it. Keep in the fridge. I like to eat my chestnut purée stirred into plain yogurt, but it's also lovely in any place you would put Nutella.
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2 Reviews

Mireille D.
Mireille D. October 22, 2021
The recipe worked for me, although I probably only had one pound of chestnuts, and so I only used about 1/2 of the syrup and only 1 tsp vanilla. I don't know if the ones I had were not very good, I have never purchased them before and these were from the grocery store. The result did not have much flavour at all; I ended up adding a second pinch of salt. Maybe this is just not for me...
 
boardandspoon
boardandspoon November 22, 2017
Hmm. Something is off with the proportions and estimated yield here. I used just under 2 lbs of chestnuts in shells and ended up with over a quart of puree. I also used far less sugar and vanilla than the recipe called for; any more and it would have been inedible. (My chestnuts may well be sweeter than the typical grocery store chestnut, but even with that taken into account, I think there would be too much sugar.) I also had to cook them much longer than 15 minutes after peeling to soften them. The basic technique works, so as long as you are comfortable being flexible with the amounts and adjusting to taste, it will still come out fine. But 2 lbs of chestnuts is A LOT.