Marrons Glacés
January 18th, 2010
Marrons Glacés are chestnuts which are candied in a syrup solution and then dried. Marrons Glacés may be eaten on their own. They are also the basis for many desserts, among which is the famous “crème de marrons”, flavored with a hint of vanilla, and itself a staple ingredient for other desserts, such as the Mont Blanc (puréed with cream), ice creams, cakes, sweet sauce or garnish for other desserts.
Let’s make Marrons Glacés:
1, 2. Remove chestnut shells.
3, 4. In a large saucepan, cover chestnuts with water.
5. Bring to a boil. Boil 8 minutes.
6. Discard liquid. Drain.
7, 8. Using a kitchen towel, rub off brown inner skins. (Instead of kitchen towel, I peeled the brown inner skins with knife, and this is better than the kitchen towel).
9, 10, 11. In a large saucepan, cook sugar, water and vanilla bean over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes.
12. Add chestnuts.
13. Increase heat. Boil 10 minutes.
14. Remove vanilla bean. Pour syrup and nuts into a large bowl. Let stand 12 hours. Return to pan. Boil 1 minute. Return to bowl. Let stand 24 hours. Repeat process 3 times until syrup has been absorbed. (I didn’t transfer the nuts to a bowl, I kept them in the pan in the whole process).
17.Preheat oven to 150 °F (65 °C). Cover a wire rack with parchment paper. Place chestnuts on wire rack.
18. Bake in preheated oven with oven door open 2 hours or until firm.
19. Remove from oven. Cool. Store in a container lined with waxed paper. Will keep up to 2 weeks.
Marrons Glacés
From: life as a h4 / Servings:
PDF Text Only / Print With Images
| 1 kg (2.5 lb) chestnuts, shells removed
500 g granulated sugar 2 cups water 1 vanilla bean |
Remove chestnut shells.
In a large saucepan, cover chestnuts with water. Bring to a boil. Boil 8 minutes. Discard liquid. Drain. Using a kitchen towel, rub off brown inner skins. (Instead of kitchen towel, I peeled the brown inner skins with knife, and this is better than the kitchen towel). In a large saucepan, cook sugar, water and vanilla bean over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Add chestnuts. Increase heat. Boil 10 minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Pour syrup and nuts into a large bowl. Let stand 12 hours. Return to pan. Boil 1 minute. Return to bowl. Let stand 24 hours. Repeat process 3 times until syrup has been absorbed. (I didn’t transfer the nuts to a bowl, I kept them in the pan in the whole process). Preheat oven to 150 °F (65 °C).Cover a wire rack with parchment paper. Place chestnuts on wire rack. Bake in preheated oven with oven door open 2 hours or until firm. Remove from oven. Cool. Store in a container lined with waxed paper. Will keep up to 2 weeks. |
Notes and Tips
When I prepared the sugar syrup, I added drops of lemon juice to it.
The chestnuts didn’t absorb all the syrup.
The sugar in chestnuts may start to crystallize, so it is better to store them in their syrup, and drain before use. I preferred to make a new sugar syrup and store the Marrons Glacés in the new syrup.
I halved the recipe, and they were consumed very fast, so I’m not sure if they will keep up for two weeks or not.
I bet these taste 1000 times better than the store-bought ones! I admit I don’t have your courage making them at home sounds like quite an undertaking!
Salam Dimah :)
mmmm , I`m v glad your blog have been upgraded to this beautiful site .
Your photos are v beautiful too :)
mmmm , I loke this post a lot .I will give it a try soon ..
tasteofbeirut: Thank you for your kind words!
Mona: Thanks for stopping by! let me know when you try it out.
Hi Dimah, these look like a lot of work. I noticed them b/c they looked familiar to me, but I can’t place where I might have had them.
Anyway, they look wonderful.
These are one of my favourites! I had them when i was overseas and i haven’t found them back home. I can’t wait to try this recipe :)
Thank you!
WOOW, i never thought this to cook myself, me and my family love it and we used to buy from stores ,now i can cook it:))
tx for recipe.. i enjoy with your recipies much, also it s cos of our kitchen(turkish and syria) is so close to eachother..