Roasted Chestnut Cookies

And here were are again, chestnuts.  I found you to be unspectacular from the outset, but I thought, perhaps putting you into a cookie would redeem you.  I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but something was missing.  Now, I have recently learned that chestnuts are the least fatty of all nuts, but maybe my particular batch was even less rich than most.  In any case, this cookie needed way more butter.  As they were, these cookies were more like scones-- fit to be dunked in coffee, but not really cookies in their own right.

Actually, come to think of it, these were really bomb scones.  But yeah, kind of lame cookies.

Roasted Chestnut Cookies

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

1/2 c roasted chestnuts

1/2 c vegan butter, room temperature (or more--see headnote)

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon + additional for coating

pinch nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

1 c all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Once the peeled chestnuts are fully cool, chop them coarsely on a cutting board. Measure 1/2 cup of chopped chestnuts, and dump them in the bowl of a food processor. Grind them until they are very well chopped, then add the softened butter, and pulse again until combined. Add 1/4 cup of your powdered sugar, vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour and pulse until an even dough is formed.

2. Wrap dough in plastic, chilling for one hour or until firm. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk remaining 1/2 c powdered sugar and a few pinches of cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside. Working with one half of the chilled dough at at time, roll it into 2 teaspoon-sized balls in the palm of your hand. Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet but no need to leave more than 1/2 inch between the cookies; they won’t spread.

3. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 14 to 17 minutes.  Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough. To touch them up before serving, you can sift some of the leftover cinnamon-sugar mixture over them.  Makes about 2 dozen 1-inch cookies.

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In other news, the sun finally came out for a while when I was making these cookies, though both preceded and followed by thunder and lightning.