This log took forever, I'm not kidding, because I couldn't find any chestnut pureé. I ended up buying fresh chestnuts, boiling them, cooling, peeling, and processing. I sliced my thumb in the process. I'll be conservative here, and not post a photo, though personally, I love "gross" stuff, pathology was my fave class.
Maybe it wouldn't have taken so long, if I hadn't bought and made about 3 or 4x as many chestnuts as I needed, but I had never made chestnut pureé before. It's quite easy, but time consuming. I'm very determined once I decide on a recipe/ dish. I was quite sick - sinuses, possibly feverish - when I was driving around town, from supermarket to supermarket, at 1am, looking for pureé.
Here is how you make chestnut pureé, in case you ever need it and don't live in France or the UK, where you could get the stuff at any store.
1. Score your chestnuts. Cut an X on the flat side of each chestnut. If you have one which is flat on both sides, then just pick a side. The reason for the flat side is because it's easier to cut, than a convex hard slippery surface.
2. Boil for about 20 minutes.
3. Let cool; keep the water/ liquid, you'll need it later.
4. Peel all the chestnuts. I used a curved paring knife, it only ended up in my thumb once.
5. Put chestnuts in a food processor and add some of the liquid from cooking. Don't dump in too much. You can always keep adding, until you reach the desired consistency of the pureé. If you have leftovers, like I did, freeze. I have 2 plastic containers in the freezer for next time.
This yule log took the better part of a day, but it was worth it, very dense and rich chocolatey goodness.
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