Today’s Recipe: Chocolate-covered Chestnuts

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa’s on his way;
He’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother’s child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I’m offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
Merry Christmas to you!

Chocolate-covered Anything Day is Sunday, December 16. So, to celebrate (any excuse will do when it comes to chocolate, really) we dipped the roasted chestnuts in chocolate and, as they say, we went cuckoo for cocoa puffs!

CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHESTNUTS
PREP TIME: 45 MINUTES PLUS 30 MINUTES COOLING
COOK TIME: 25 MINUTES
MAKES: 1 LB

1    lb chestnuts
1    cup chocolate chips
½   T butter
toothpicks

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Or stoke an outdoor fire. Cut an X on the round side of each chestnut through both shells.
2. Place chestnuts on a cookie sheet, cut side up, and roast for 25 minutes. For fire roasting, add to a cast-iron pan, turning every 5-7 minutes.
3. Remove from oven or fire and wait 10 minutes, or until they are cool enough to handle, then remove the shells.
4. Add chocolate chips and butter to a double boiler (or a small bowl for a microwave) and melt the chocolate.
5. Insert a toothpick into each chestnut and dip in chocolate. Place chocolate-covered chestnuts on parchment or wax paper. If desired, sprinkle chestnuts with shredded coconut. Cool for 30 minutes.

Gather ingredients.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Or stoke an outdoor fire.
Cut an X on the round side of 1 lb of chestnuts, through both shells.


Place chestnuts on a cookie sheet, cut side up, and roast for 25 minutes.
For fire roasting: add to a cast-iron pan, turning every 5-7 minutes.

Remove from oven or fire, wait 10 minutes or until they are cool enough to handle, and remove the shells.


Add 1 cup chocolate chips to the top of a double boiler (or a small bowl for a microwave).
Add ½ T butter to the bowl.

Melt the chocolate (if using the microwave, try 20 second increments).
Insert a toothpick into each chestnut. Dip in chocolate.


Place chocolate-covered chestnuts on parchment or wax paper.
If desired, sprinkle chestnuts with shredded coconut.

Cool for 30 minutes.

  1. Elizabeth says:

    They look like gourmet chocolates, yum. You’ve given me another good idea for tasty gifts. May try your recipe with melted peanut butter too:-)

    And I didn’t know we had a national, Chocolate Covered Anything Day; by all means, count me in! Thanks for the song, it helped set the scene. And a very Merry Christmas to you too.

  2. Winnie Nielsen says:

    This recipe looks more promising for chestnuts than others. I always find them sort of crumbly and mealy once roasted producing an unpleasant texture to me. I keep trying to find recipes that use chestnuts because they are sort of iconic for the season. Perhaps this new one you share will do the trick!

  3. Terry Steinmetz says:

    All I can say is yum, yUM, YUM!!!

  4. Gerald says:

    I love chestnuts and chocolate but never thought together, they do it with other type of nuts. Thanks for a new idea, I bet we could even use white chocolate, waiting to use with coconut.

  5. Dee says:

    Do you use semi-sweet, bitter-sweet, or mild chocolate chips?

    • MaryJane says:

      Here’s what my DIL Ashley, MaryJanesFarm food guru, had to say:
      We used semi-sweet chocolate chips for this batch, but any type of chocolate chips would be great. 🙂

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