Comments on: Mad about Chestnuts

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:54:03 +0000

karen, you’re certainly very adventurous to make yr own marron glaces! i’ll never wanna make them, thinking how much work it is just to peel the shells off nevertheless your mont blanc macaron looks very good (and original), think patisseries out there will definitely make something like this in no time

anyway i saw the candied ones at culina @ dempsey if i’m not wrong, whole ones somemore. euraco doesn’t sell them?

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:01:16 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Evan! I’ll check Culina out sometime. It’s actually not that hard to peel the membranes off after boiling. The ones I bought came with the hard shells removed.

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:46:38 +0000

Stunning!! I love everything I am seeing here!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:24:55 +0000

Hi Karen,

I just bought a bottle of chestnut in extra heavy syrup at Meidi-ya.
It cost about $20 over but the chestnut taste great.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:23:31 +0000

Maria: Thank you!

Jennifer: Thanks for the information!

By: veron

veron — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:12:50 +0000

What a work of art!

By: ladyironchef

ladyironchef — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:20:08 +0000

hello karen, first time to your blog! very nice photos you got, and the “macaron” mont blanc got really thick fillings!

cheers
brad

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:37:49 +0000

Veron: Thank you! I loved the “Ducklegs” graphic on your duck confit post!

Brad: Thank you for visiting. I’ve visited your blog previously and I think it’s wonderful that you spend so much time and effort organising numerous food events for local food bloggers/foodies.

By: yixiaooo

yixiaooo — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:06:46 +0000

how beautiful!

By: Dani

Dani — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:20:35 +0000

how creative

By: Courses in Culinary Arts

Courses in Culinary Arts — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:29:29 +0000

Chestnuts looks awesome.

Thanks for posting.
Karen

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:57:06 +0000

Thanks, Yixiao & Dani!

By: Fen

Fen — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:39:24 +0000

Wow, they sure look lovely… Looks like a variation from the Isaphan Very creative to design such lovely bakes…

By: nikki

nikki — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:39:20 +0000

Hi Karen, I sent you an email a while ago.. and have been waiting for your reply.. I hope you have the time to respond.

By: Evie

Evie — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:25:20 +0000

Cool blog, it’s my first time checking it out.
Jarred chestnuts are expensive in the US too– $9 for a 7 oz jar Wholefoods. But well worth avoiding the trouble of peeling a wicked hot nut and burning your fingers off!

By: Susan from Food Blogga

Susan from Food Blogga — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:59:26 +0000

You were fortunate to find such fresh looking chestnuts. Too often they’re covered with mold, so I ended up using bottled ones. These are really great looking though, and your dessert is divine.

By: Tartelette

Tartelette — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:07:50 +0000

I have some Mont blanc macarons setting right now!! I love when we make similar things because I can show the hubby and say “see, I am not a weirdo!”.
My hat’s off to you for making your own marrons glaces. I have yet to meet 2 patisseries or artisans that make the same. Every year they feel and taste different.

By: grace

grace — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:10:14 +0000

Hi! I have a family of kids who adore candied chestnuts, so have been making them at home, with greater or lesser success, for a number of years. A couple of things that work for me: 1) the all time best way to peel chestnuts is to score them on the bottom and then pop them in the microwave, no more than 5 at a time, for 25 seconds. When they come out, the skins have JUST steamed off, and the internal nut is not cooked. It works perfectly, but don’t try to do more at a time, since you can only peel about five before they cool and get too hard to manage. 2) My second tip is to soak them in cold water overnight before starting to cook them; I’ve done them without soaking, but somehow soaking produced more uniform product (or, it was just a good batch of nuts that time, who knows?!). The cooking prior to syrup stage is where recipes tend to diverge. Some recipes suggest that you need to boil them, so as to get water into the nuts, which is later replaced by syrup. I’m afraid that will pull too many nuts apart, and the large amounts of waste is, i believe, why they’re so damned expensive!. Anyway,I am going to try my next batch sous vide, in the hopes that that will keep from falling apart, but break down the structure sufficiently to absorb the syrup. (Does ANYONE know a sous vide recipe for them?). And finally, for the syrup stage, I just boil ‘em in syrup for a couple of minutes, turn off under the pot, leave it on the stove, and 5-8 hours later turn the fire back on, bringing them to a boil, then off again. I do this four or five times (if the syrup gets too thick, just add a little water. If you use pure cane syrup, you’re a little less likely to get crystalization, but i’ve never had a big problem with that anyway). I’d love any other tips! (is it rude to write so much on a blog? this is my first time!)

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:31:42 +0000

Grace: Thank you for your tips on candied chestnuts! I’m not sure if I’ll attempt making them again, but if I do, I’ll definitely keep your method in mind.

By: Charmaine

Charmaine — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:30:49 +0000

Wow, your pics are gorgeous! I stumbled across yr blog while looking for macaron recipes. You might be interested to know that Pastry Chef Steven Ong from Centre Ps is conducting a macaron workshop at the National Museum on 12 April. I’m sure he’ll have tips abt marron glaces!

By: mia

mia — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:52:27 +0000

Hi Karen,
First time to visit in ur blog. My heart pumps up when i saw ur macaroon. would u share which book u adapted the recipe for macaroons please.

Thanks
Mia

By: Patricia Shea

Patricia Shea — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:47:58 +0000

Hello and thank you for your BEAUTIFUL blog, your desserts are so perfect I would almost have a hard time eating them…but I know I could always be persuaded. How great you made your own marron glaces, I ate them a lot when I was little and have very fond memories of them but I bet it would be hard to glace them easily, I have found chestnuts to be really inconsistent in their texture even if you are just roasting them so well done…the macarons look spectacular! Patricia

By: Ruliyah Jambri

Ruliyah Jambri — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:37:08 +0000

hi Karen,
wondering if u will be holding any macaroons classes anytime soon
thks

Ruliyah

By: Janine

Janine — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:45:34 +0000

Hi..your website is quite a beaut! Colorful delicious pictures are to drool over; however, I was lookin for the bread crumbs to the recipes…and sad to find no gold pot at the end. Were u going to post recipes or leave it as a mysterious blog? ;o)

By: Catherine

Catherine — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:37:29 +0000

Hi Karen. I too am a little adventurous with cooking and had some difficulty in peeling chestnuts. I am about to try making Marron Glace using canned chestnuts. If the method (microwave) works I will let you know.

By: ella

ella — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:05:01 +0000

hi..the pics of the macarons look absolutely divine..mind sharing the recipe?:)

By: Yvespaul

Yvespaul — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:00:20 +0000

Amazing blog, you’re extremely talented and I’m so jealous of that. I don’t know if you’ve thinking about using already cooked and peeled whole chestnuts. I’d be incline to attempt creating a mont blanc with them. They are cheap and much less hassle. You can get them in Asian grocery stores.

Thanks for all the inspiration.