Lots of people use chestnuts over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Chestnuts for stuffing, roast chestnuts. A traditional Thanksgiving dish for us is braised chestnuts and brussels sprouts—it’s an excellent accompaniment for turkey.
Chestnuts can be a bit of a pain to work with. Removing the hulls is straightforward but tedious. It’s a real labor of love. Have you ever wondered why your chestnuts are hard to peel, why the pellicle (the inner shell) sticks so tight to the nut, or why so many of your nuts are moldy? I thought it was just part of dealing with chestnuts.
And then I learned the real truth. Most of the chestnuts in the market have been imported—mostly from Italy and Chile—and are old and haven’t been properly stored.
But there is a solution: buy your chestnuts straight from the orchard. Allen Creek Farms of Ridgefield, Washington is still shipping this year’s harvest. After harvesting they maintain their nuts in a climate controlled for both temperature and humidity so what you receive is absolutely the freshest nut available.
Before I started ordering direct from Allen Creek Farms I just didn’t realize how good chestnuts actually could be. They also have dried chestnuts, chestnut flour (from which you can make your own puree), and lots of other chestnut products. There’s still time so order your chestnuts now!
Here’s a recipe for chestnut cake made from chestnut flour.
Chestnut Cake (adapted from Gourmet)
½ cup mild olive oil
1 cup chestnut flour + add’l for dusting
¼ cup hazelnuts
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 large eggs, separated
½ cup mild honey
¼ cup sugar
- Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 350° F. Spray a 9 – 9 ½” springform pan with non-stick spray and dust with chestnut flour.
- Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Rub the nuts in a kitchen towel to remove the loose skins. Some skin will probably remain. Chop until medium fine in a food processor.
- Mix together the chestnut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in the nuts.
- In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, oil, honey and 2 Tbsp. sugar until thick and pale—about 5 minutes. Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed until well mixed.
- Beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt in another bowl with clean beaters until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar a little at a time until the whites hold a soft peak. Fold into the cake mix 1/3 at a time until well mixed. Pour into cake pan. Bake 30 minutes. Then loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake another 10-15 minutes.
- Place on rack to cool. Remove pan’s side.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar as shown or top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts.
