Castagnaccio is a popular Italian winter cake made with chestnut flour. There are many variations to this cake according to which Italian region you visit, however this recipe has been taken and adapted from the book ‘Pausa Pranzo’ written by my amazing talented friend (and chef!) Stefano Arturi.
Chestnut flour is a great nutrients dense option as chestnuts are rich in complex carbohydrates (which are digested slowly giving you even energy levels), vitamin c, potassium, copper and magnesium.
Ingredients:
-250g chestnut flour
-500ml of coconut milk
-2 tsps vanilla essence
-4 tbs extra virgin olive oil (plus a little extra to sprinkle on top before baking)
-1 cup (100g) of pine nuts
-50g of raisins (soaked in water for 15 min)
-2 tsps chopped rosemary
-2 grated apple
-zest of 1 orange
-4 tbs maple syrup
-pinch of salt
Mix all the ingredients (except from a tablespoon of pine nuts and the rosemary) in a large bowl. Pour the mixture in a greased baking tin and top it up with the pine nuts the rosemary and a little extra olive oil.
Bake in the oven at 180C for 30/40 minutes or until the surface starts to dry up.
This cake has no yeast, so it won’t raise at all.
Traditionally this is not a very sugary dessert and the taste is quite strong. If your kids are used to very sugary treats, they might need to try it a couple of times and develop a taste for it before they get to like it!
Please notice that if you are allergic to nuts this flour might not be suitable for you.