Happy Castanyada from Catalonia.
this are traditional sweets for today called panellets.
100-150 gr boiled potato or sweet potato (optional)
500gr of pine nuts (you can use whatever you want, almond chunks, chocolat, coconut, whatever. Pine nuts is just the traditional)
They are supereasy to make, child friendly, and they have no gluten and are vegetarian friendly (vegan if you don't want to use egg, but it's going to make your life more miserable: See later)
The measurements don't need to be super accurate. It's a very forgiving recipe.
This recipe is the one my family uses and should yield around 70 of them (they are little balls)
Note: Preheat over an 200ºC (CELSIUS).
Recommendation, have a bowl prepared with the sugar. If you have a food processor, you give it a couple of pulses so it's a bit easier to mix later,
First of all, boil a potato or a sweet potato (small one, something around 100-150 gr).
We use a regular potato because otherwise they are a bit too sweet.
(You can also do not use a potato, it just helps to make more of them for cheap and does not affect how they taste too much.)
Once boiled and while it is are hot, drop the potatoes (not the water) in the bowl where you have the sugar and mix until all sugar has dissolved.
Then add the almond flour and mix all until there are no big chunks.
Really, whatever texture feels right to you. you can taste to check if you are not sure. It's just sugar, almond and potato...
Then make small balls, bite size more or less and put them aside.
Grab a couple of medium sized eggs and separate the yolk from the whites. The yolk will be used to paint them so they look nicer once baked, the whites will be out glue.
And here's why I said, without the eggs your life will be more miserable, because making sure the pine nuts stick to the balls makes you feel like Sisyphus.
Pine nuts is the traditional, but you can use almond bits, chocolat, coffee, coconut, whatever you like.
If you want the traditional route:
Beat the egg whites vigorously, and then coat the balls. Put them aside so they dry for a 5 minutes or so. Then one by one, drop them on the pile of pine nuts/almond bits, and squeeze, Make the ball again and squeeze. It's tedious, but they will eventually stick. you don't need to have them all covered, but make sure they are presentable.
Once all done, paint them with the yolk, onto the oven at 200ºC until the pine nuts become darker, let them cool and you are done.
The only "raw" item are the eggs, so 10 minutes of oven should be more than enough.
They are expensive to make, because almond and pine nuts are expensive, but you can scale down as much as you want. i usually make this quantity because i give them to family and friends.
I really hope you try it, and bona castanyada!
If the instructions seem vague, it's because they are. It's just marzipan with a few extra steps. Give it a try. It's very difficult to mess up
