No-Bake Chestnut Balls

I can't believe how quickly the month of December has gone by! I thought I would have tons of time to listen to holiday tunes, come up with some festive recipes, and get all of my Christmas preparations done, but Christmas Day is already less than a week away and I feel like I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I wanted to!

At least one thing I can say I've accomplished is my shopping - as of yesterday, I'm all finished! Now all that's left to do is is wrap my gifts, which isn't exactly my forte but I actually look forward to doing it every year.

As for cooking and baking, I admit I've fallen behind this year with only two holiday themed recipes to share with you so far. First were my gingerbread rye scones, and today I have an even easier no-bake treat for you!

I love roasted chestnuts, but it's a bit of a pain to roast them and pry the shells off. So when I saw bags of pre-roasted chestnuts at the store, I thought I would give them a try and see how they compare. As it turned out, they were much tastier than I thought and couldn't be simpler - you can eat them straight out of the package or heat them up for a warm treat.

Instead of just gobbling them up, I wanted to use my chestnuts in some kind of snack and my first thought were energy balls. I took my basic formula of energy balls but replaced the nuts with chestnuts and added some flavours like cinnamon, maple and vanilla to complement them.

Since the chestnuts were so buttery, they broke down easily in the food processor to create the smoothest "energy balls" I've ever made! These were nice and sweet too, so they tasted more like a dessert even though they're still pretty healthy.

These would make a unique addition to your holiday dessert platters this year, or just to have around as a snack to fuel you through the rest of your holiday preparations!

No-Bake Chestnut Balls

1/2 cup (100g package) roasted peeled chestnuts (I used Aurora ready to eat chestnuts)

1/2 cup dates

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dash of salt

1/2 tsp artificial vanilla extract (if you only have pure vanilla, use 1/4 tsp)

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

~1/4 cup dessicated unsweetened coconut

Place the chestnuts, dates, and oats in the small bowl of a food processor and process until everything is broken down. Add cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and maple syrup and process again until the mixture forms a sticky dough.

Roll mixture into bite-sized balls. Sprinkle the coconut onto a plate and roll balls in the coconut, using your hands to help press it in.

Store in the fridge.

Makes 12-13 balls

Roasted Squash, Beet & Chestnut Salad with Warm Walnut Dressing

Lately, I've been eating a lot of one of my favourite vegetables - beets! I've been using them in a variety of ways - raw and roasted, sweet and savory...so you can expect to see at least a few beet recipes here in the near future!

One of the recipes I made with all my beets was this warm winter salad full of roasted veggies with toasted pecans and chestnuts, all tossed in a creamy walnut dressing over mixed greens. It was so good that I ate it for dinner three nights in a row and then I was disappointed when it ran out!

The inspiration for this salad started with the roasted chestnuts...after my sister told me about a vegetarian stuffing she made with chestnuts, I couldn't get them off my mind. So I chose a couple other vegetables that I thought would compliment the chestnuts, then looked through my cookbooks for a suitable salad dressing.  I found a recipe in Vegan Planet for a warm dressing made by blending up toasted walnuts and I thought that sounded perfect!

I was a bit worried that I would be disappointed when I tasted everything together, but thankfully the salad lived up to my expectations! I loved the combination of the squash, beets, and chestnuts and the pecans were the perfect addition to complete the salad. But the star of the whole thing was definitely the walnut dressing - the toasted, nutty flavour complimented all the other ingredients so well!

There were a lot of components to this salad to prepare, but the good part is that you can make a big batch of all the vegetables and the dressing one day, and then store each of the components separately in the fridge to get at least a few meals out of them.

Roasted Squash, Beet & Chestnut Salad with Warm Walnut Dressing

Salad:
*I’ve noted the amounts that I used below, which got me about 3 salads, but treat these as guidelines – as long as you follow the same process with the same ingredients, the precise amounts aren’t that important!

2 medium beets, washed

1/2 lb chestnuts in their shells (about 14 chestnuts)
2.5 - 3 cups peeled and diced butternut squash (I used the pre-cut kind)
olive oil

1/3 cup chopped pecans

About 4.5 cups mixed greens (1.5 cups per serving)

Dressing:

Adapted from Vegan Planet

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup canola oil

3 tbsp orange juice

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Scrub beets and wrap them in foil. Place on a baking sheet in the preheated oven and roast for about one hour, until a knife can easily pierce them.

Meanwhile, prepare the chestnuts by scoring an “X” on one side of the shell with a knife (this will allow some steam to escape so they don’t explode in the oven). Place the chestnuts on one side of a large baking sheet, with the cut side facing up.

Toss the squash with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on the other side of the baking sheet next to the chestnuts. When there is about 25 minutes left in the roasting time for the beets, add the chestnuts and squash to the oven. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until the chestnuts are dark and starting to split open and the squash is tender and starting to brown (you don’t want it to be too soft).

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the pecans and the walnut dressing: 

Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped pecans and toast for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted and fragrant. Remove from the pan and set aside. 

Add the walnuts to the pan and toast for a few minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the canola oil. Continue to heat on low for about 5 minutes. Stir in the orange juice, sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Puree until smooth, then return dressing to the pan and keep warm over very low heat.

When the vegetables are done, remove from oven and let cool slightly until ready to handle. Trim the ends off the beets and peel off the skin. Slice beets into wedges. Pry the skins off the chestnuts using a knife or your hands and remove the nut from inside. Chop chestnuts into small pieces.

If you are making a single serving of salad, lay the mixed greens on a large plate. Place some of the beets, squash and chestnuts on top of the greens. Sprinkle with some of the chopped pecans. Pour about a third of the dressing (or however much dressing you like) over the salad and gently toss to combine.

Alternately, you could add the full amounts of everything to a large bowl and toss together before serving onto plates.

Makes 3-4 servings.