Honey Vanilla Chestnut Spread

I didn’t eat a roasted chestnut until I was 20.

It took living in another country and walking past a food cart that sold them everyday for 2 months before I finally caved.

I have no idea how or why I resisted their intoxicating winter smell that permeated the entire block for so long because one bite into the first one and I was a chestnut fan for life.

They were sold in a cone made of newspaper so by the time you finished the last one your hands were completely black from the ink.

I think that’s about the only time in my life I haven’t minded having “newspaper hands” (major annoyance usually).

I don’t know what I expected them to taste like but I do remember being completely shocked upon the first bite and my initial thought being that they kind of tasted like a potato!

Not like a nut at all.

Tricky little suckers.

They’re a wonderful middle ground of sweet and savory with an addicting starchy texture.

Those roasted chestnuts along with the gazpacho my host family made weekly were two of my favorite food memories from my time in Spain.

Since “nut” is in their name, I wanted to see if I could butterize these babies like the rest of them and make a “chestnut butter” if you will.

I figured if almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, etc. could be turned into butter, why couldn’t chestnuts?

So here we are with this chestnut spread.

The thing is apparently chestnuts don’t really get creamy.

I’m assuming it’s because they have a lower oil content than other nuts and more starch.

Although, I can’t fully rule out that maybe I was just too impatient (15 minutes, however, is about all I can take of hearing a food processor whirl around) in my attempts?

But, honestly, I don’t even care because the result, this chestnut spread, was still edible, still spreadable and still totally delicious in a roasted “potatoe-y” sweet kind of way.

That’s probably not a great description because who really wants to spread potatoes on their toast, but just trust me on this.

It’s a good kind of “potatoe-y”.

In less than 12 hours I’ve already eaten it on toast, spread on a pear, in a chestnut smoothie and stuffed in a date.

So it’s got some potential.

Also, there were 2 full meals consumed in that time frame in addition to those things.

I guess I eat a lot.

The smell and ambience of roasting them in your oven doesn’t quite compare to the smoky food cart on a Christmas lit corner in Malaga, Spain, but the taste is just as good.

Maybe even better since there’s no black newspaper hands to deal with afterwards.

Chestnuts are really such a seasonal gem so I’m always looking for ways to incorporate them while I can find them in the store.

While this recipe instructs you to roast and peel them yourself, they’re also sold vacuumed packed pre-roasted and peeled.

It makes life a lot easier and is great for using in recipes like this cornbread chestnut stuffing and in the filling of this turkey roulade.

MORE NUT BUTTERS AND SPREADS TO TRY:

Java Almond Butter
Pumpkin Seed Butter
Coconut Date Spread
Gingerbread Peanut Butter