Autumn is here and with it comes the chestnut season. Where I grew up, chestnuts are part of daily meals. In the Italian part of Switzerland, the forests are packed with chestnuts trees. Many houses are equipped with an open fire place and a chestnut roasting pan. Chestnuts are collected, cut and roasted over the fire. They are also dried and conserved such as made into flour for baking. Chestnuts are used for many different kind of dishes. Best of all, they are delicious and super healthy. The probably most popular chestnut product nowadays is Vermicelle (a paste made of chestnuts and sugar which is pressed through an apposite press with round wholes making the paste look like spaghetti), mainly served with meringue and whipped cream. In my opinion Vermicelle is great for baking. It gives the cake an intensity and a nutty flavor. For a special occasion I created these Chestnut, Hazelnut and Chocolate muffin – a great treat for this season.
batter
Ingredients
- 100 gr Butter
- 30 gr Dark cane sugar or muscovado sugar
- 4 Egg yolks
- 440 gr Chestnut puree (vermicelle)
- 100 gr Ground hazelnuts
- 100 gr Dark chocolate (70%) chopped
- 40 gr Spelt flour
- 4 Egg whites
- 1/4 tsp Sea salt
- 50 gr dark chocolate (70%)
- 10 gr Butter
- 1 handful whole hazelnuts
Instructions
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1. Make sure the butter is soft. I usually take it out of the fridge one hour before I start.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
3. Prepare a cupcake pan with apposite paper cups.
4. In a bowl combine butter, sugar and yolks and whish well until you get a uniform and creamy mass.
5. Add chestnut puree and whisk until well combined.
6. Repeat step 5. With the ground hazelnuts and the chocolate bits.
7. Add the flour and the baking powder by sieving them in order to avoid clumps. Whisk until combined but no further, otherwise you’ll end up with a gummy consistency.
8. In a separate bowl combine egg whites and salt. Whip until you get a nice white snow.
9. Add the whipped whites to the cupcake batter. Integrate slowly and with caution, you want to make sure that the batter gets fluffy. Therefore do not overmix.
10. Fill the 12 cupcake forms equally.
11. Bake for 25 minutes.
12. Let the cupcakes cool down.
13. Meanwhile break the chocolate into small pieces and add to a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and let sit for a few minutes. Pour as much water away as you can without losing too much chocolate, add the butter and mix until you get a uniform chocolate mass.
14. In a skillet toast the hazelnuts over a medium flame.
15. Separate the toasted hazelnuts form the hazelnut peel which usually come off when toasting.
16. Chop the hazelnuts into halves and quarters.
17. Decorate the cupcakes with the chocolate cream and toasted hazelnuts.
