This is beautiful! I was looking for Chestnut Roasting advice and stumbled across this "recipe". It is just too awesome not to share!

And my question is.... I can picture my dad grinning from ear to ear when this amazing dessert arrived amidst much fanfare after our annual holiday lunch in NYC. I vaguely recall it may have been sweetened Chestnut Puree and Whipped Cream but beyond that my memory fails.

It is a wonderful memory - skating at Rockefeller Center, shopping at Bonwits and lunch with Daddy followed by this dessert. Can you help me with what it might have been? I am roasting WAY more chestnuts than I need for the Brussel Sprout recipe so I need suggestions for the leftovers.

Thanks,

Alexa

Now, here is The Recipe:

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All you need is a stove. I went to the British for this because if anyone knows how to roast a chestnut, they do. From the BBC. I needed plain for a recipe and don't use oils.

SERVES 6

Ingredients

2 1/4 lbs chestnuts

8 ounces dry white wine (optional)

Directions

1. Since the computer will NOT let this run with one ingredient, we will add one. The optional wine, Drink it while the nuts are cooking however if you don't drink it is optional.

2. Preheat oven to 400F.

3. Cut a cross in the top each nut into the top of the flesh. Put in roasting pan and bake until skins open and insides are tender about 30 minutes [check, can vary from 10 to 30 minutes].

4. To serve place in paper bags. Peel away skin and pith [white stuff]. Eat the kernel.

5. Note: You can leave a test chestnut. Do not put the cross in this one when you put them in the oven, then when it blows, it bounces off the side of the stove, causes the cat who is sleeping on the rug next to the stove to have a heart attack, they are done.

6. Also note: as reviewed other pets also work such as dogs. I am not sure about ferrets. They tend to be a bit nervous anyway.

7. However as noted, Bassetts or Beagles or other 'hunting' breeds may not react. They were bred for loud sudden noises.

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REVIEW

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What a disaster! I had neither wine nor household pet, so, in the interests of following the recipe reasonably closely, I went out and bought a cat. However, on my tight budget, made even tighter by my recent purchase, I had to make do with some methylated spirits ( White spirits for American readers), instead of the wine. I drank some of the Methylated, which tasted surprisingly good, so I had a little more whilst I cut crosses in all but one of the chestnuts as you suggested. I heated the oven to the required temperature and put the chestnuts in a cast iron pan into the hot oven. Ahh... the deliciousness of anticipation! After about 15 or 20 minutes, the pressure inside the un-crossed chestnut built up enough pressure to explode the tough skin of the nut. It let go with all the force (and the exact same physics principle) that drives massive ships and railway carriages; the irresistible force of steam. The explosion of that single chestnut was heard by neighbours in the next street. Someone rang the fire and emergency services. I had no need to open the oven, as the force had blown the heatproof glass door right off its hinges. The oven cavity was covered in a very thin film of chestnut meat, but there was nothing else left of the exploded nut. I couldn't even find fragments of skin! It took days to clean up later, but I was quite calm throughout, as the Methylated spirits had soothed my nerves so much, that I just though it was funny, after I had recovered from the bowel-loosening shock of the unbelievably loud explosion made by the detonating chestnut. After the ambulance officers had treated me for mild alcohol poisoning, and suggested that I never again try this chestnut-readiness testing method at home or anywhere else for that matter, they left, happily clutching a few of the remaining nuts, which, by the way, were delicious, with a touch of salt. I had almost forgotten about the chestnuts. The cat?... He flew through an open window with a screech I will never forget. I have never seen that cat again.