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It's Nuts.........

Chestnuts


My baking and cooking experiments have taken a nutty turn lately.

So far Iv made a Mushroom and chestnut pie for Christmas dinner, used them in a Meatless loaf recipe, added chopped mixed nuts to my banana loaf and attempted to make Almond cream cheese.  Like all of my experiments, they never quite turn how I expected.......


Yesterdays experiment involved the chestnuts I had left over from Christmas dinner. I bought them  Frozen and already peeled, which made the cooking a lot easier. 


Chestnut and apple muffins


I started by cooking them for 15 minutes, blended them till smooth then added Agave Nectar to make them into a sweet chestnut puree.  (You can cheat and buy sweet chestnut puree pre-made in a can)  I then replaced the banana for the puree in one of my muffin recipe.  Again tastes pretty good but I know they can taste better.  Chestnut is a delicate flavour so I didn't add any spice or vanilla extract in case it  overwhelmed the taste.   I also made them a bit on the small size due to  portion control.  Lol, Iv put on a few pounds on over the festive season. 

Next Experiment Almonds


The almond cream cheese I made today tastes good, but the texture was nearer to a chunky hummus.  Iv just had some with my lunch, which was Garam Masala spiced roasted beetroot with a wholemeal wrap.  The taste was a great accompaniment to the spiced beetroot, so it's definitely a recipe that deserves some more work.  My only problem is that, I don't think my little food processor is up to the job.  


Almond nut hummus


For some strange reason iv always though cooking or baking with nuts was a tricky thing to do.  I blame all those TV chefs, there always lecturing to us about  "NEVER BURNING YOUR NUTS" for giving me this impression.

Isn't trying to not burn your food the whole point of cooking!!!!












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