Joyful Bites: Chestnut Candy Wonderland!

1. Wash the chestnuts and carefully dry them.
2. Cut each chestnut crosswise on the convex side with a sharp knife.
3. Soak the chestnuts prepared in this way in a pot of water for 1-2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 215°C.

• Drain the chestnuts, dry them, and spread them on a baking sheet with the cut cross facing up and bake them in a heated oven for 25 minutes.
• Peel the baked chestnuts as soon as possible after taking them out of the oven. To make it go better, you can wrap them in a damp kitchen towel for 15 minutes to steam slightly.
• Place the peeled chestnuts in a large pot cover them with hot water and lightly salt them.
• Cook for about 20 minutes.
• Take the pot off the heat and leave the chestnuts in it for another 5 minutes.
• Take them out one by one and pull off the thin inner skin until you get a completely clean core. Peel carefully, boiled chestnuts are fragile.
• Place the peeled chestnuts in a large, wide, preferably steel pan with higher walls.
• Mix the sugar with 500 ml of water in a saucepan and let it dissolve over low heat, stirring constantly.
• Add vanilla, and star anise, and continue cooking until the syrup thickens a little.
• Pour over the chestnuts in the pan and cook on a very low heat for 30 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and let the chestnuts stand in the syrup for another 10 minutes.

If you want to wrap them as a gift, take them out one by one and let them dry on a plate. If you want to serve them immediately, sprinkle them with a little brandy or the syrup in which they were cooked.