Delight your holiday guests with this festive “snow-capped” dessert.
Named for the Mont Blanc mountain in Europe, this recipe is a more portable version of the traditional French treat. Enjoy with a cup of hot coffee or tea, or whatever counts as your holiday cup of cheer.
Ingredients for the tart shell:
2 cups Field Day all purpose flour
1/4 cup Field Day granulated sugar
⅔ cup butter
1 egg
¼ teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the chestnut filling:
½ lb. roasted chestnuts (fresh from the produce department)
¼ cup water
¼ cup Field Day granulated sugar
Ingredients for the cream filling:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons Field Day powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredients for decorating:
Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions:
First, you’ll need to prepare your chestnuts.
Preheat your oven to 375. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Remove the outer skin of the chestnut as best you can.
Put the chestnuts on the baking sheet and roast them for 15 minutes.
Once they’re out of the oven, pour them into a towel while they’re still warm. Rub the chestnuts in the towel to rub off the remaining skin.
In a large saucepan, add the chestnuts and enough water to cover them and bring it to a boil. Boil for 30 minutes on low, covered and stirring occasionally.
While the chestnuts are boiling, make your simple syrup.
Add your sugar and water to another saucepan over low heat. Heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside.
When your chestnuts have finished boiling, strain them.
Add your chestnuts and simple syrup to a food processor and blend until a smooth paste is formed. Set aside.
Now that your chestnut paste is made, you can start on your tart shell.
Prepare an 8 inch or 10-inch pie pan or tart pan. Set aside.
Cream together your butter, salt, and sugar.
Add your egg and mix well, until it creams together again.
Fold in the flour gently. Once it becomes sticky, knead it with your hands until just combined.
Roll out the dough to ½ inch thickness and put it in your pan. Cut away any excess dough and re-form it to line the edge of the pan. You can also pinch the excess dough into the side of the pan, however you prefer.
Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, covered in cling wrap, before baking
When you’re ready to bake your tart shell, preheat the oven to 320.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before filling.
While your tart shell is cooling, you can make the whipped cream.
In a large mixing bowl, add your cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
Set the cream aside until you are ready to assemble the tart.
When you are ready to assemble the tart, have your chestnut paste and a piping bag ready, along with your whipped cream and tart shell. Additionally, have your powdered sugar and a sieve ready.
Fill the tart shell with an even layer of your whipped cream.
Put the chestnut paste in your piping bag. If you have a decorative piping tip, use whichever one you think will look the best. If you don’t, you can rough up the edges with a fork to make it look more like a mountain later.
Pipe the chestnut paste in a swirl, covering the top of your whipped cream. Pile it higher towards the center to create the mountain peak.
Finally, dust the top with a generous amount of powdered sugar. You can use the sieve by filling it with powdered sugar and tapping it to make a lovely dusting on top.
Serve cold and enjoy with coffee or tea.
-Delaney Blomstrom
