Chestnut Chocolate Pots

I made these last year from my favourite Christmas picture Cookbook - Nigella.  Join me in full-fat yumminess - you wont regret it.

Hello!  I really hope that you have enjoyed the last few days - are you full/started the post-Christmas diet yet? I hope not, as I have a dessert recipe that wont really fit in with that.  Chocolate pots.  I use a variation of this Nigella recipe, which uses ingredients I already have [note the ommission of full fat milk for this very reason] and is a nice, simple dessert that is still festive, perfect for the Christmas to New Year break and using up a few things in the fridge you might want to be rid of before New Year.

What I Used:
1 Egg
200ml Double Cream
250g Chestnut Puree
200g Plain Chocolate

Start with the chestnuts.  I had chestnut puree readily available, so used this:

...but you could roast and then create your own chestnut puree:
Score a cross in the skin of each chestunt [if I could get someone else to do this for me, I really would], spread on a baking tray and pop in to the oven at 200 degrees C for around 30 minutes.

 

Remove the skins and either blend or smash into a puree, depending on whether you want a smooth or chunky blend of chestnut with your chocolate
[leave 4/5 chestnuts to the side for decoration afterwards]:

Next, if you have a food processor, whizz your chocolate until it resembles a powder [if not, smash to absolute pieces in a sealed bag with a rolling pin]:

On the hob, heat the double cream until boiling  and then add to the chocolate in the processor, mixing with a quick blitz of around 1 minute and then add your egg until fully blended:

[if you don't have a processor, add the chocolate to the saucepan and allow to melt at a reduced heat, whisk an egg and then add this, continuing to stir quickly until fully blended]

Now, add the chestnut puree, either whizzing until blended in the food processor, or stirring in to the chocolate, cream and egg mixture if you want to keep chuncks of chestnut:

Now transfer the mixture in to dessert pots
[I filled 5 ramekins with this mixture, which is more than generous. In truth, you could / probably should use these measurements to make double that.  They are very, very rich and thick]:

...cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to set, if you can wait that long!

I broke up a chestnut for the top of the pots as I like to make my mixture fairly smooth, so it's nice to have the mix of textures:

They may seem small, but they definitely will fill you up - enjoy!

These are so easy to adapt to any combination of chocolate and nut and you could also add in some chocolate buttons/chunks into the mix to bulk the dessert out and add something to contrast.

If you are throwing a New Years Eve dinner party, these would be brilliant dessert option too - I'll be back tomorrow with a simple decoration idea - see you then.

Want more Christmas treat ideas, including our Pudding teacakes, marshmallow pops, meringues and more?  Come this way.

Don't forget, you can follow me on Pintrest:

and Twitter!

Tweets by @ThingsSheMakes