Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Nipples of Venus (Capezzoli di Venere) - Keeping Abreast of the Latest in Valentine’s Day Confections

I don’t remember much about the movie, Amadeus, which isn’t surprising, since I don’t remember that much about the early eighties in general, but I do recall the famous “Nipples of Venus” scene. At the time, I wondered if that was actually a real thing, or just something made up for the movie, but since there was no Internet yet, I never found out.

Fast forward thirty-plus years later, and inspired by a viewer’s request, I finally learned that these were in fact real, and very delicious, thanks in part to star of the show, chestnuts. While not a common ingredient, chestnuts aren’t that hard to find, and worth the effort, since they work really well in this.

If you must, another nut like almond, or hazelnut, should work about the same, especially when you consider your guest, or guests, will be fairly distracted by the eye-opening appearance. Speaking of Netflix and chill, you could show Amadeus after dinner, with these served as a sexy snack during the viewing. From there, you’re on your own. Regardless of whether you serve these on Valentine’s Day or not, I still really hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for about 24 Nipples of Venus:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup white sugar
6 ounces dark chocolate
14 ounces whole chestnuts
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup brandy
*8 ounces white chocolate, chopped, divided
1/3 cup powdered sugar
enough milk to make a very thick paste
1 or 2 drops red food coloring

*This is more white chocolate than you need for coating, but that's how this stuff works. Just eat the rest. 

30 comments:

Bethany said...

Thank you for the Valentine's recipe idea. I didn't realize these were actually a thing either.
I recently saw your Facebook live interview on YouTube. Where did you get your freakishly small wooden spoon(s)?

Oh, and sorry about your disappointing whisk attachment.

Roberto said...

I saw these from time to time when I lived in Italy. Do a search on capezzoli di venere ricetta originale and click on Images to see variations. Just don't do the search on your at-work computer unless you want to blur the line between "food porn" and "porn".

Darren said...

Pretty stuff!

I was wondering if you knew why all cooks with shows on the internet or tv use the word "nice" so much. Or variations of it, the most common being "nice and--" this or that. "Nicely--" this or that. Once I noticed it I can't unnotice it and it's starting to slowly drive me insane. It's an unneeded phrase that really doesn't mean anything. What the hell is "nicely browned" anyway?

Unknown said...

Can I use apricot brandy or will it make them too sweet?

Unknown said...

Could I replace the brandy with an other brown spirit like a mild scotch (that would be what I have on hand)? It´s really hard to find higher quality spirits where I live, since that would be the literal middle of nowhere... :D

Unknown said...

Can I replace the brandy with an other brown spirit like a mild scotch(that being what I have on hand)? It´s really hard to find higher quality liquors where I live, since that would be the literal middle of nowhere... :D

Brian said...

Damnit, Chef John. How many low-key puns can you possibly squeeze into one video?

Unknown said...

What can be used instead of brandy that's nonalcoholic?

Unknown said...

What would you suggest as a non-alcoholic substitute for the Brandy?

Unknown said...

Oh oh Oh!
Can't wait to try this Chef John!
You're the best!
Liz

Unknown said...

Oh oh Oh!
Can't wait to try this Chef John!
You're the best!
Liz

Unknown said...

Oh oh Oh!
Can't wait to try this Chef John!
You're the best!
Liz

Willie Dukeshire said...

o my God....The funniest video you have done...and i will be making these.Thank you chef John for yet again another fantastic food video...

Unknown said...

Interestingly, this reminds me of Paris-Brest, a pastry I had when I was in Paris. Also made with chestnuts. Also named after a certain body part.

Unknown said...

Hey! Can we use almonds instead of chest nuts? (for allergy reasons) I normally hate to change a recipe but it looks too delicious. Also, can they be refrigerated or should they be eaten immediately? Thank you!

Farah said...

Hi Chef John, may I know what would be a good non-alcoholic substitute for brandy? Thanks!

SpasticMuse said...

Now playing on the jukebox in my head ~..."Chef John, Chef John, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah oo oo ah, brrrrah oo oo ah, come on rock me Chef John..."

Sorry, child of 80's New Wave(Thankfully well exposed to other music growing up so I'm only partially deranged).

As always, love your videos and recipes. Think I might bring these around to the 'folks next holiday season. Though I may just stick to the Italian name and skip the decoration. Or not. They do have their progressive moments. I know my dad would love them either way.

ap said...

I just can't help feeling that they should be paired up on the serving tray.

leoj1939@gmail.com said...

Nothing to do with this video, but how do I spice up cheese ravioli.

Chris said...

In Defence of the word "nice";
It has two meanings, eg; I've had a very nice time

or

that is a nice distinction ( ie subtle difference) between these two things

Anthony Vaiana said...

You should make a video of how this got demonized. Maybe babbish can help help promote it to reddit. It's messed up what youtube does to someone who has been around as long as you!

Josh Berkus said...

New episode request: Yakisoba.

I was kinda surprised that you hadn't done this already, but I can't find it on your blog or youtube anywhere.

Jessica said...

Oh wow! These were relatively easy to make and yielded a lovely (and amusing) product. Bonus: I finally had a “reason” to add cognac to my bar :) Happy Valentines Day, Chef & Mrs Chef John.

Leo2 said...

Gave this a try and ran into many challenges. Will provide some thoughts about why some of my challenges occurred. Other challenges still escapes my understanding. Will try this again after I complete the analysis. First, I had no roasted chestnuts so I used it from the can. After food processor's step, I should have really dried the cashew mixture. So I didn't do this and my initial chocolate mix was too wet (sopping wet :-) ) Slowly dried he mixture with lots of paper towels and I finally got it dry enough to make into the little chocolate balls. Then my white chocolate seized up on me twice so not as even a mixture when I coated the chocolate/chestnut balls. Anyway, finally got to the pink mixture through zippy bag. My nipples of Venus probably represented nipples from the planet Venus :-) wDo not know why the white chocolate seized up but they are still very tasty and gave me the opportunity to drown my initial failure with some nice cognac :-) Will try again on another day. Thanks tasted very good - mine just didn't look exceptional :-) The youtube amedeus scene is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYkqLr7aHAA

Mickey said...

Hi Chef John,
I cannot find a contact me, so I'll give this a try: Here I thought I discovered you and you were my own personal secret weapon for 10+ years... when I talk to any aspiring home cook, they all already know about you. My daughter is a 4th grader at Francis Scott Key Elementary School here in San Francisco. The PTA has a major annual fundraiser Gala in about a month. I'm going to contribute to the "desert" section by either trying these, or your Lemon Bars. I've already made a test run with the Lemon Bars, and they were a smash. Just wondering if you'd be open to a meet / greet or a private (or filmed) lesson as an auction item (I would personally try to outbid the other parents - to the extent my husband would allow :) http://rph.dvortex.net

Unknown said...

Chef, it's worth noting that if you use water chestnut, that ROASTING THEM IS A CRUCIAL STEP. I was a f****** idiot and just ground them up all wet. This lead to a mushy mixture and a raw tasting product. I couldn't even coat them in the white chocolate because they just fell apart.

Unknown said...

I see you used Callebaut white to coat, but what was the dark used? Valrhona?

Cory said...

I'll be making a test batch soon but, as im getting married and making my own wedding cake, I'll add one of these to each plate. Im sure it will be lovely (not merely "nice").

Bruce Adamson said...

And as always, I enjoyed your video. I've also made many of your recipes with great success. But the "Nipples of Venus" were more like Testcicles from Hell." All because of the white chocolate. As you suggested, I first tried using the vanilla chips from the grocery store. They simply would not melt enough, no matter what melting method I used. Then I went out and bought baker's chocolate in 4 oz. bars. It melted much better, but never achieved the thin consistency needed to coat the chocolate balls smoothly. So I went to the internet, and a few posts suggested adding a small amount of vegetable oil but that didn't work either. As a last resort I tried vanilla candy melts, which also didn't melt to the right consistency, and besides that, the taste was awful. Even if they had workedr, It would have been a sin to coat the delicious dark chocolate with that artificial junk. In the end, since party time was fast approaching and my patience was completely exhausted, I sprinkled them with powdered sugar--a poor substitute since I couldn't present a tray of cute little chocolate breasts to my guests. Even so, The mix of chestnut and dark chocolate was delicious. So my question is: what kind of white chocolate did you use? I would like to try making these again, but not unless I'm sure I have the right kind of white chocolate.

Papa Kan Cook said...

These look great and I'd like to try. Saw video on YouTube. I see the ingredients here. Where do you hide the written directions? Cannot find anywhere.