Seared Chicken with Chestnuts #SundayFunday

Seared Chicken Breasts served on a bed of Celery Root Puree and topped with Chestnuts.  This is a lovely, elegant dinner to grace your Holiday table.

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are sharing recipes featuring Chestnuts today.......

Celebrating Fall French Style #Winophiles

In France, wine harvest time is known as la vendange and spans about two months – typically from August to October.  Also, harvested during this time are root vegetables, mushrooms and chestnuts.  I was hosting a dinner party for our son in law's parents who were visiting from France and decided to celebrate by combining our harvest with theirs.  

It was a lovely meal........

Persimmon Chestnut Spice Cookies #FabulousFallBounty

Today is the final day of our Fabulous Fall Bounty event hosted by Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla and sponsored by Melissa's Produce, Le Creuset and Silpat.

I received the above products from these companies.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  I have received no monetary compensation for this post.

It has been quite the week!  There have been tons of wonderful recipes from the dozen bloggers participating in this event.  I have shared a French Soup, a salad full of Fall Flavors, a Baby Beet salad, a Mexican dish containing Guajillo Chiles and thought I would end this party with dessert.

Are you familiar with persimmons?  I have to confess that until last year, I had never tried one.  They weren't even part of  my vocabulary.  Then, I was sent some from Melissa's Produce when they sponsored one of our Wine Pairing events and I fell in love.

Needless to say I was very excited to receive some again in this Fabulous Fall Bounty Basket.  Last year I made a cake and some dip.  This year I decided to make some cookies.

This gave me an excuse to use my new Silpat mat.  I use my silicone mats all the time and I'm excited that I now have 4 of them so that when making cookies, I can get two baking trays ready while two are in the oven.  That makes short work of your baking time.

I also use silicone mats when roasting veggies.  Anytime you would use parchment paper on a baking sheet you can use the silicone mats.  I still keep parchment on hand for lining cake pans though.  I'm waiting for silpat to come out with round mats to be used in cake pans and different size square and oblong mats to be used in baking pans. Their website promises new products coming soon so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I found this recipe for Persimmon Cookies on Allrecipes.com.  It called for walnuts but I had some steamed and peeled chestnuts from Melissa's so I substituted those.

I also used ginger instead of cloves and lessened the amount of nutmeg in the recipe.

The final adaptation was replacing the raisins with dried cranberries.

These soft, chewy cookies were reminiscent of taking a bite of spice cake.  The only moisture in these cookies comes from the persimmon and egg. The persimmon had turned gelatin like from the cornstarch but dissolved upon addition to the creamed butter.

I had the batter made and all 4 trays of cookies, containing 20 cookies on each tray,  baked and cooling in less than an hours time.  Perfect for during the busy holidays.

I had enough cookies to take to our church for the choir concert afterglow and still put some in the freezer to serve during the holidays.  I am going to pull some of them for the Thanksgiving dessert table.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the recipes from this Fabulous Fall Bounty event as much as I.  I have found lots of great new recipes that can't wait to try.  This cookie recipe is destined to become a yearly tradition.

Persimmon Chestnut Spice Cookies

adapted from Allrecipes. com submitted by Patty Tindall

2 ripe Fuyu persimmons, stemmed and quartered

1 t. baking soda

2 c. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 c. sugar

1 stick butter, room temperature

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. chopped chestnuts

Place the persimmons and baking soda in a food processor and puree.  Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and persimmon.  Stir in flour mixture and then beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the cranberries and chestnuts.

Using a small cookie scoop place onto a baking tray covered with a silicone mat.  The cookies do not spread much at all and are very cakelike so you can put 20 per tray.  

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. Print Recipe

Final Fabulous Fall Bounty Recipes

An InLinkz Link-up

Chestnut and Persimmon Cake featuring Melissa's Produce

Last week I got a great package from Melissa's Produce, who are sponsoring our November edition of Wine Pairing Weekend.

I had never heard of Christmas Crunch grapes before but they are the sweetest, most delicious grapes I have ever eaten.  I have yet to use the squash, potatoes and parsnips but plan on making a pot roast later this week and roasting up those veggies to serve alongside.  I have never worked with crabapples or these small lady apples and am still contemplating what I will make with these little beauties.  

I served the grapes as part of the breakfast station that I served for Frank's CPL class that he held yesterday.  He holds classes once a month and I provide a light breakfast and lunch for the students.

 have never had a persimmon.  Hard to believe isn't it?  They are wonderful.  I don't know why I haven't tried them before.  I think they will make a lovely addition to a salad but I wanted to serve a dessert after lunch so decided to pair them with the chestnuts to make a cake.

I made a plain white cake and added the fruit of 3 persimmons and 1 c. of chopped chestnuts. I seasoned the cake using pumpkin spice olive oil and cinnamon.  You can use regular olive oil and a t. of pumpkin pie spice in lieu of the spiced olive oil.

I wasn't sure what kind of frosting would work with this cake so I decided to add a streusel topping. Mmmmmmm.......streusel.

It baked up tender, moist and delicious.  I was proud to serve it at Frank's class and we will enjoy it again this evening when Kim and Kurt join us for dinner.

One last thing before I share my recipe.  While I appreciate Melissa's Produce providing me with this produce I did not receive any monetary compensation nor was I required to prepare and/or blog a recipe for them.  I simply made this cake and loved it so much that I wanted to share it with you.

Chestnut and Persimmon Cake

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 1/2 c flour

1 c. milk

3/4 c. pumpkin spice olive oil (or regular oil with 1 t. pumpkin pie spice)

1 t. cinnamon

2 1/4 t. baking powder

pinch of salt

1 t. vanilla

3 ripe fuyu persimmons, peeled, seeded and diced

1 c. roughly chopped chestnuts (steamed and shelled)

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. flour 

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

Cream together the sugar and eggs in the large bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, 

for a minute or so, until slightly thickened.  Add the flour, milk, olive oil, pumpkin pie spice (if using), cinnamon, baking powder, salt and vanilla.   Mix on low speed until moistened, increased speed and beat until combined, about another minute.  Turn speed to low and stir in the persimmons and chestnuts.  Pour into a 9x13" pan that has been treated with baking spray.  

Place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until crumbly.  Sprinkle over top of cake batter.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 40-45 minutes, until top is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake removes cleanly.  Print Recipe