Easy Japanese Chestnuts Sweets

This are few my own wagashi creations, based on some traditional Japanese recipes like kinako-ame(roasted soybean flour confectionery). They are very easy and quick to prepare, you don’t need any very “special” ingredients, but the taste is truly delicious, and beside that, they look great. You can serve all sweets with Japanese green tea but they are fantastic with black tea or even coffee, too.

As I already wrote, I’m a huge fan of such “east-meets-west” sweets: traditional Japanese ingredients like sweet bean paste or mochi mixed with typical “western” components like cocoa, chocolate or cream , this are really mouth-watering combinations.

Regarding traditional Japanese sweets, autumn is my favorite season, because I absolutely love chestnuts and other typical fall ingredients like nuts or dried fruits. Autumnal wagashi are often baked or steamed, too and are very colorful.

Kinako Chestnut Wagashi

The outside is made from creme de marrons(chesnut jam) and kinako(roasted soybean flour), as filling you can use the other two recipes(scroll down).

Kinako Chestnut “An”

100g creme de marrons(chesnut jam)
3-4 tablespoons kinako flour

Heat the chestnut jam in a small pot, mix with kinako. Let cool, shape small balls, flatten and wrap around the filling. Because it’s a little sticky, take some additional kinako flour in your hand while shaping the sweets. That’s all!

Kuri Jo-Namagashi

Again, the outside “dough” is made from creme de marrons(chesnut jam), dark chocolate and kinako, the inside is filled with Kuri-kinton(fresh crushed chestnuts). Because Kuri-kinton is a little time consuming and you absolutely need fresh chestnuts, you could use the kinako-chestnut wagashi as filling(and vice versa: use the outside as filling in kinako chestnuts). This is what makes these wagashi so easy and exiting, you can prepare few different kinds using only 3 different components. Just be creative and have fun!

Chocolate Chestnut Dough

120g creme de marrons
20g dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons kinako flour
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon coffee liquor or rum

Filling: 100g Kuri-kinton or Kinako Chestnuts

Heat chestnut jam and chocolate chips in a pot, stir till the chocolate melts, then add all other ingredients, mix well. Let cool(it will be much easier to shape then), knead a little and roll into small balls for filling or use as outside dough for the other sweets.

Japanese Style Chestnuts Truffles

Sweet, read bean paste and chocolate, does it work? Absolutely, it’s very flavorful! I got this idea because of a similar recipe and some chocolate yokan I saw on a Japanese wagashi site, then I wanted to find out if this combination works.

Chocolate-An

100 g koshi-an(smooth read bean paste)
20g dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoon cocoa powder

Filling: Kuri-Kinton or whole nuts

Heat the bean paste, add chocolate chips and stir, till chocolate melts, then add cocoa powder. Mix well, let cool. Knead, shape into small balls, flatten and wrap around the filling. Other filling alternatives: Kuri Kanroni, fresh steamed chestnuts or even whole nuts(like walnuts). Enjoy with black tea or coffee!