A fruity & nutty festive sweet treat to enjoy the night before Christmas!
We’re all well aware of the Sugar Plum Fairy, ruler over the Land of Sweets. She is the physical embodiment of joy and compassion and on the night before Christmas we can’t help but dream of her sweet confection dancing in our heads, but have you ever eaten one? Well probably not as the concept of sugar plums has changed through the centuries!
Originally, they were a hard sugar sweet made of a thick sugar coating that was wrapped around a nut, or even small seeds like caraway, anise, or cardamon. Similar to the sugared almonds we have today.
The more modern manifestation of sugar plums involves mixing finely chopped fruits and nuts, forming into balls and rolling in sugar. So if you fancy having a go, here’s a recipe for you!
Sugar Plums
Ingredients:
85g pitted dates
85g walnuts
30g dried cranberries
30g prunes (not tinned)
30g hazelnuts
2 tbsp jam or marmalade
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
120g granulated sugar
Optional:
Brandy, whisky, port, sherry, cointreau or any other Christmas tipple
Ground almonds
Edible glitter
Edible gold or silver leaf
Method: 1. Chop the dates, walnuts, prunes and hazelnuts then blend with the cranberries in a food processor until roughly chopped chunks. Don’t blitz too mushy.
2. Add the jam or marmalade, cinnamon, and cloves, and pulse until the mixture begins to come together. Don’t blend it too much though, it shouldn’t be completely smooth. You need to keep it a little chunky.
3. Roll the mixture into small balls and roll the balls in the granulated sugar, edible glitter or edible foil leaf.
4. Enjoy immediately or store in the fridge for up to a month.
Optional extra: For a slightly boozy sugar plum add a couple of tablespoons of tipple and if the mixture is too wet add some ground almonds then roll into balls.
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