Candy & Confectionery Recipes > Marrons Glaces

How to make marrons glaces:
A classic French sweetmeat based on the old idea of candying fruit. See Cooking with Sugar for information on the tricky process of boiling sugar.





Ingredients

2 cups (1lb) chestnuts
2 cups (1lb) caster/superfine sugar
1/4 pint water
few drops of vanilla extract
(see measure conversions for more information)

Method

- Peel the chestnuts and boil them in water for a few minutes until the skins can be easily removed.
- Remove the chestnuts from the water and remove the skins from the chestnuts.
- Cook the chestnuts gently again in clean water until they are soft but not broken.
- Dissolve the sugar in the 1/4 pint water with the vanilla extract.
- Boil until the mixture thickens to a syrup.
- Add the chestnuts and bring back to the boil for 4 minutes.
- Carefully remove the chestnuts from the syrup with a slotted spoon, bring the syrup back to the boil and continue boiling until the syrup thickens again.
- Replace the chestnuts and boil again for 3 minutes.
- Drain and serve or store in the syrup in an airtight jar.