ReceptnaptárSugar-glazed chestnuts (croque en bouche)
Croque en bouche (French for "crunches in the mouth") is a chestnut ball coated in crisp, glassy caramel: a crunchy shell around a soft, creamy chestnut centre. With ready-made chestnut purée it is easy to make today, with no need to boil and peel chestnuts.
Open in Receptnaptár — serving calculator, cook mode, save
Ingredients
Method
Tap a step once you've finished it.
- Knead the chestnut purée with the vanilla icing sugar and the rum until smooth. If it is too sticky, dust it with a little icing sugar. Shape it into walnut-sized balls or small chestnut-shaped mounds (about 20), place them on a tray and chill for 20 minutes so they firm up.
- In a small pan, bring the sugar, water and lemon juice to the boil. Do not stir; just tilt the pan from time to time until the sugar is clear.
- Boil the syrup over high heat until it becomes a light amber caramel (about 150-155°C on a sugar thermometer; or a drop of caramel breaks glassily in cold water). Take it off the heat immediately and dip the base of the pan in cold water so it stops cooking.
- Using a toothpick or fork, dip the chilled chestnut balls one by one into the hot caramel, then leave them to set on baking paper or a silicone mat. Be careful, the caramel is extremely hot.
- Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla sugar until stiff.
- Arrange the cooled, coated chestnuts on a platter and pile the whipped cream in the middle, or serve it alongside.
Based on: Malatinszky Fanny szakácskönyve (a classic Hungarian cookbook), modernised. Calories and protein are estimated.
Tips
- Chill the chestnut balls before dipping, because the cold purée sets the caramel faster.
- Watch the caramel, it burns very quickly: as soon as it turns amber, take it off the heat.
- Work fast, because caramel cools quickly; if it hardens, put it back on the heat for a minute.
- Make them at most 2-3 hours before serving, because moisture softens the caramel.
- You can do it without a sugar thermometer: the caramel is ready when a drop in cold water hardens and snaps like glass.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the caramel melt on the chestnut?
If the balls are not cold enough, or the caramel is too wet. Chill the balls well and cook the caramel until hard.
How long do they keep?
3-4 hours in a dry place; in the fridge the caramel melts, so they are best eaten fresh.
Similar recipes
- Candied whole chestnuts · Hungarian
- Chestnut purée with whipped cream · Hungarian
- Chestnut crescents · Hungarian
- Chestnut pudding · Hungarian
- Zitronenkuchen (lemon bundt cake with sugar glaze) · German
- Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars with a meringue glaze) · German
More hungarian ideas
- Strawberry cream
- Coffee cream
- Candied fruit parfait
- Iced chocolate
- Orange cream in hollowed-out orange peel
- English cream with orange and lemon
- Sour cherry cream with chocolate and sponge fingers
- Vanilla cream
How to use it · Privacy (in Hungarian) · Legal notice (in Hungarian) · Editorial principles (in Hungarian) · Cookie settings