As good as these pin wheel crepes look and as easy as they were to assemble, I’m thinking the reason you’re poking around on this post is for the roasted chestnut purée part.

The other stuff-baked apples with cinnamon-sugar water, pomegranate raisins (for a little burst of tart) a squeeze of lemon and a few tabs of butter covered in a 350 oven-and then a crêpe mix swirled in a flat, hot pan is easy enough, right?

The chestnut part requires a little more attention.

The chestnuts in your world may be a little different from mine, and since this was my first experience roasting chestnuts (yes, in my life), I can only make notes on the type of chestnuts I had access to.

Roasting chestnuts is easy once you know what to do. There are a several resources available and of course everyone has an opinion. I culled my roasting experience from the notes and recipe from my farmer (where I got my chestnuts) and a few videos on YouTube.

Enough said.

Ready?

You will need a pound of in-shell Chinese chestnuts, (mine came from my organic farmer) a serrated utility knife, a baking sheet, a medium bowl, a towel, a small sauce pan, sugar, vanilla bean or vanilla extract, a strainer, and an immersion blender.

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Hold the chestnut between your thumb and forefinger flat side down. Saw across and into the round side of the shell down to the nut, stopping before you pierce the nut. Note: many chefs suggest the reverse, including my farmer, to slice into the flat side. But for me, I respect the knife and prefer to have that nickel-sized nut secure on the board on its flat side.
• Place on a baking sheet and roast about twenty-twenty five minutes. The shell will begin to pull away from the nut. Remove and place in a bowl, cover with a towel and let steam (similar to getting the skins off a roasted pepper) for about fifteen minutes.
• Remove the shell and let cool completely, about an hour or so. Depending on how much purée you want, portion and freeze your nuts.
• For ten crepes, I used ¼ cup of whole chestnuts.
• In a small sauce pan, add ½ cup sugar and ½ cup of water, the nuts and  if you have vanilla bean, scrap the insides of ½ a bean in to the pot along with the pod. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until the sugar melts.
• Remove from heat, (add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract if you didn’t use the bean, stir and let sit for about five minutes). Strain, reserving the simple syrup. Discard the vanilla pod if used.
• Using an immersion blender on high-speed, break apart the nuts. Slowly drizzle the simple syrup in as you pulverize the nuts, using all the syrup or until desired consistency.
• Make the crepes, then spread a healthy teaspoonful of roasted chestnut purée down the center, add baked apples, roll and slice. Sprinkle powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder, or drizzle chocolate over the pin wheels.

Serve immediately.

Don’t want to make crepes, but want the purée for something else. Let cool completely, then cover and refrigerate. Use within one week.

Need more ideas for your roasted chestnut puree? You will have leftovers if you make less than ten crepes.

• Add a few teaspoons to icing for cakes and cupcakes.
• Spread on warm donuts, or thick slices of toast.
• Use as a base for vinaigrette.
• Spread on flat bread then top with fresh figs and sliced prosciutto.