Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Maroon Glace


This is a home made recipe for candied chestnuts if you cannot find it in your local store.

Its delicious and easy if you follow the instruction.

Score a cross or x on the brown shell of the chestnuts with a sharp knife and bake them for about twenty minutes at 250 F. ( if you have a non stick pan you can do that on top of the stove) This will make them easier to peel. Let them cool for couple of minutes to enable you peel them without burning your hands. Remove the outer shell and the brown membrane as carefully as possible, being sure to leave the chestnut whole. If you got broken pieces, chop them and add them to the frosting.
Boil the chestnuts for twenty minutes and let them sit in the hot water for half an hour afterward. This softens the nut, and lets it soak up the sugar later. Taste one; they should be soft.

While the chestnuts are soaking, prepare the sugar syrup in a separate saucepan. For each measure of chestnuts that you are making, add one measure of water and one and half of sugar to a large saucepan. Place the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. With a candy thermometer, take the temperature of the syrup. When the syrup reaches 230-235F “thread stage,” add the chestnuts to the syrup. The thread stage is also the point at which a bit of the sugar syrup will spin a thread between the thumb and forefinger when it is plunged suddenly into a cup of ice water: don’t stir the chestnuts, let them cook in the syrup.
The goal now is to bring the chestnuts slowly to the “soft ball stage,” at 235-240 F, and to keep them there for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The mixture will continue to boil, which is not a problem, but do not let it get hotter than 240 F. If it does, just take the pot off the heat for a minute or so , then bring it back, to the stove.
Some recipes say that you should re-apply the syrup again to the nuts by repeating the above procedure, by ladling syrup over them, or even by baking it onto them as a final step. I find that these steps either break them up too much or else have no real effect on the finished product. In other words, you’re done. Drain them using a colander and store in the refrigerator .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Arlette

Thank you very much for an interested blog, and recipes, I 've been looking for a Chestnuts Candy since a while, I am looking forward to try it and let you know.

Happy Holidays.
Mariam - Sudbury