Vegan Chestnut Coconut Cream

Before I forget what I did, here is a yummy vegan cream made with chestnuts and coconut milk. Usually I make whipped cream with Morinu tofu. Yesterday we had picked six quarts of organic strawberries at my friend's long, straw-mulched patches bordered with rhubarb, so all I needed to do was make the shortcake and cream.

Tonight I made a shortcake, and then went to get the box of aseptic silken tofu. What? No tofu? How to make cream? I spied a 5.3-ounce packet of ready-to-use organic roasted peeled chestnuts. Hmmm. I wondered how they would blend up with a 15-ounce can of coconut milk. Very nicely, I am happy to report. Think of this as a nut cream and the tan color won't make you wish for a bright-white whipped cream.

Ingredients

1 package 5.3-ounce aseptic roasted peeled chestnuts, 1/2 a cup

1 15-ounce can full-fat coconut milk, or lite coconut milk and 1/2 tsp. guar gum

1/2 lemon, squeezed for juice

2-3 Tblsp. maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

Water to blend

Method
I dumped all the chestnuts into the blender — about half a cup. I added a teaspoon of my homemade vanilla, and the juice of half a lemon. I poured in some maple syrup — maybe 2-3 Tablespoons. Chestnuts are sweet on their own, don't forget. I blended all that with a few dollops of water — enough to make the blender spin. 

I spooned all the coconut milk in. I used the full-fat kind, but you could use the lite version for a thinner cream or thicken it by blending in a half teaspoon of guar gum if you have some on hand. I blended it, pushing carefully down the edges of the blender with a spoon until it looked smooth, and then I tasted it. Yum!

I refrigerated it and spooned it on the biscuit-style shortcake and ate it with strawberries. My partner ate his with a strawberry rhubarb compote. We both like the cream, but I just got a report from my 17-year-old son that it tasted weird and reminded him of coconut ice cream, and that he doesn't like things that remind him of other things. 

Well, you can't please everybody, but give this a try as an alternative to a tofu-based or dairy whipped cream next time you need a topping for strawberry shortcake.