Ice Cream & Hot Chocolate Treats - With Chestnuts!

Chestnuts are synonomous with autumn and winter. As a food the chestnut is surprisingly versatile and you will find it used in both sweet and savoury recipes - from pie recipes (usually with pork, venison and duck) and soup recipes to dessert recipes such as chestnut cheesecake and even bread recipes.

Christmas is an ideal time to offer some chestnut based fare for your friends and family. Here are a couple of ideas you might like to try ....

Chestnut ice cream - it's quite a simple recipe without eggs and produces a sweet, nutty ice cream.

Chestnut hot chocolate - this is courtesy of my friend Emma who runs a great little English coffee shop. She came up with the Halloween hot chocolate I told you about recently. Her chestnut hot chocolate is a quality hot chocolate with a special chestnut flavouring, decorated with powdered chocolate. Thanks to Emma for sharing this super photo with us.

Want to explore chestnut foods further? Well, here are a couple of suggestions ....

1. A page of really interesting chestnut recipes which I came across on the web - I have yet to try any but they certainly look appetizing!

2. The Chestnut Growers of America website which has some fantastic information about chestnuts and includes a recipes section.

Lots of great reasons to make yours a chestnut Christmas this year!

Halloween Hot Chocolate

Here's a little gem of a recipe for a hot, sweet treat on Halloween.

I came across it in an English coffee shop. I was just waiting for my delicious take-away latte when a poster on the wall caught my eye. It was an advert for one of the cafe's 'specials' - an offer just for Halloween ......

A bat-shaped cookie with a glass of hot chocolate - GREEN hot chocolate!

I had to ask what this green hot chocolate idea was all about. The girl behind the counter (Emma) explained with a smile that it was her own recipe - she loves Halloween and wanted to come up with something that would be fun. I instantly related to that idea and explained how I developed my Gothic ice cream recipe for the very same reason.

Q: So what is Emma's special recipe?
A: She uses white chocolate and then blends in a green, mint flavoring (the type used in specialty coffees).

Emma kindly emailed me a photograph, published herewith by kind permission.

A ghoulish green hot chocolate - that's what I call a 'hot' idea for a Halloween treat!

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Looking for Halloween food ideas?
See previous Halloween posts from my ice cream blog