Chestnuts are delicious and I am now kicking myself for taking forever to getting around to roasting my own. I was always afraid to roast my own. More so I thought it was a weird tradition. I didn’t want to put the time into peeling them. I never thought they were a food, rather a weapon in neighborhood wars. I thought open flame was required. Endless excuses for why I never (until now) roasted chestnuts.
Not to mention walking past roasting chestnuts stands all the time in Turkey really drove me to try it myself.
So when your brain is fried and you need just a little more time to wake up and get your life in order, roasting chestnuts is the prime task. But you do have to have chestnuts so make a 1kg impulse buy like I did and you will then be set for some early Thursday morning kitchen time.
1 kg impulse buy of chestnuts
You should probably not use this kind of knife, bread are better – or so I have read. But instead of the traditional X cut, slicing right across the top (the rounded part, flat side lies flat on the board) supposedly lends itself for an easier peel process
Cover with water and bring water to a simmer and then drain
Place in baking dish and bake for 15 minutes at 425F (200C) – they will split open like the above – this makes for easier peeling
Do a happy dance when you get a whole chestnut out! This happened more times than I expected. 
Watch your discard pile grow. You will probably have some bad nuts in there – that’s ok. 
The product of my morning labor (:
Cheers from my Turkish Kitchen – Toaster oven approved
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I’ve never made roasted chestnuts either but this looks fun!
Super easy and very relaxing which = fun in my kitchen (: let me know if you give roasting chestnuts a try