Monday Christmas Cookie (8) - Chestnut Truffles and Flowers

No-bake, no-troubles truffles of any kind (chocolate, coconut, hazelnut, but also poppy, carrot or oatmeal) have been traditionally rolling around our Christmas table for years - partially because they are easy to make, but mainly because they present a great way of using up all sweet leftovers after struggling with real Christmas traditional recipes.

Here are two simple ones for using up chestnuts:

CHESTNUT FLOWERS:
(gaštanové kvetinky)

• 200 g flour
• 75 g powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 100 g butter
• 100 g chestnut purée *
  
• 2 tbsp rum

* Note: To make chestnut puree all you need to do is boil whole fresh chestnuts until soft. Once cooled down, peel their skins off and mash them. For a simple dessert, add some sugar and vanilla flavor to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together and process to a smooth dough. Place inside the fridge for an hour. Roll out to a 0,8 cm thick piece and cut out flowers (or hearts, traditionally).
Place on a baking rack and bake at 170°C until crispy. While still hot, sprinkle them with vanilla flavored sugar.

From the leftover purée, you can make a real simple:

CHESTNUT TRUFFLES:
(gaštanové guľky)

• chestnut purée (see * above)
• honey
• 1 tbsp rum
• crushed biscuits

Mix all the ingredients together and with a help of a tablespoon form the dough into small balls. Let cool down.