I wrote a post on another blog to reveal what I learned about oranges and Christmas. A person left a
comment about sugar plums which of course started my brain questioning, and I
learned sugar plums were not at all what I had envisioned.
I believed sugar plums as in
the poem by Clement C. Moore, “A Visit
from St. Nicholas” or also known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas” in the line “Visions of sugar plums danced in
their heads,” was an actual plum covered in sugar. I mean what else could it
be?
It so happens that in the
1600’s a plum meant dried fruit. And a sugar plum can be made of any
combination of dried plums(prunes), dried figs, dried apricots, dried dates,
and dried cherries. The chopped dried fruit is mixed with chopped nuts,
honey and aromatic spices, like anise, caraway, fennel, and cardamom. The
mixture is then rolled into balls and coated in sugar.
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| Photo: Savory Moments |
Sugar Plums
from Saveur Magazine
from Saveur Magazine
2 cups whole almonds
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 cup pitted dates, finely chopped
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 cup pitted dates, finely chopped
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 400F. Arrange almonds on a
baking sheet in a single layer and toast in oven for ten minutes. Set aside to
cool and then finely chop. Meanwhile, combine honey, orange zest, cinnamon,
allspice, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Mix almonds, apricots, dates and spice
mix in a large bowl. Mix well. Pinch off rounded teaspoon-sized pieces and roll
into balls. Dust the sugar plums with powdered sugar and refrigerate in single
layers between sheets of wax paper in airtight containers for up to one month.
Blurb:
Van Donovan returns to Pleasant Valley, Oregon where twelve
years earlier as a boy of fifteen he left in handcuffs after standing guard for
a bank robbery. He's learned a trade and excelled at it and is ready to prove
to his father and the town he can amount to something.
Upon his return he learns the fate of the daughter of an
innocent man who died in the robbery crossfire. To make amends he takes her out
of the saloon and gives her a job, not realizing she'd been squatting in the
very building he'd purchased for his business.
Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past
continue to haunt their lives?
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