Pasta Grannies celebrates Christmas with Maria's chestnut pastries

ricotta cheese

🥗Healthier: cottage cheese

💰Cheaper: cream cheese

Cottage cheese provides a similar texture with fewer calories.

parmesan cheese

🥗Healthier: nutritional yeast

💰Cheaper: grana padano

Grana padano is a more affordable cheese with a similar flavor.

butter

🥗Healthier: olive oil

💰Cheaper: margarine

Olive oil is healthier and can be used for sautéing.

chestnut flour

🥗Healthier: whole wheat flour

💰Cheaper: all-purpose flour

Whole wheat flour is healthier but may alter the flavor.

Boil 1 kilo of dried chestnuts in plenty of water for two hours, adding a slice of orange, some candied citron lemon, and 50 grams of sugar.

Optionally, use a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking process.

After the chestnuts simmer, prepare a candied orange sauce by removing the skin of the orange with a potato peeler and boiling it for 5 minutes in water to remove bitterness.

Drain the orange peel, chop it, and return it to the pan with the juice from the orange, 50 grams of sugar, and a tablespoon of rum.

Cook the mixture until it becomes thick and sticky.

Once the chestnuts are cooked and cooled, pass them through a food mill for a fluffy texture.

Stir the orange sauce into the chestnut mixture along with 1 tablespoon of coffee powder, 2 tablespoons of homemade plum jam, 50 grams of sugar, and a heaped tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, mixing well with hands.

Grate the zest of a lemon and an orange into the filling mixture.

Ideally, let the filling rest for at least an hour to allow flavors to meld.

For the pastry, combine 1 kilo of zero zero flour, 100 grams of lard, 150 grams of butter, 400 grams of sugar, the zest of half a lemon, and 36 grams of baking powder.

Wash the eggs before cracking them, then squish the eggs and fats together before gradually mixing in the flour.

Add a splash of milk and knead the dough until soft and not very elastic.

Roll out the dough thicker than for regular pasta and use a cookie cutter to make rounds.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line baking trays with paper.

Add a generous teaspoon of filling to the center of each pastry round and pleat the seam closed, optionally leaving them open.

Bake the pastries for 20 minutes until golden, cooking them in batches if necessary.

Once cooled, dunk the pastries in Saba for a sweet glossy coat.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Allergens