Let’s travel in time and space, and find a world where we are graceful ballet dancers, or where a warm, fire-lit Dickensian Christmas surrounds us.
I can’t wait to make these every year. They are so bright-tasting, so marvellously delicious, so unexpectedly modern in flavour.
Sugarplums
3/4 c whole almonds or pistachios
1/2 c each finely chopped dried figs, dates, apricots
3 TB orange liqueur or orange juice
2 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
Combine the ingredients in a food processor and pulse til the nuts are about the size of peppercorns and it begins to stick together. *
Form into 3 cm (1 inch) compact balls ~ around 32.
Place about 1/3 c sugar in a small bowl. Roll the sugarplums in the sugar, place on a piece of waxed paper. Chill til firm, then store in a containter. Keeps 1 week at room temperature, and 2 in the fridge.
An excellent and delicious post-run energy snack. Or post-ballet.
2 Sugarplums = 100 cal
* Shall I tell you about the first year I made these after the food processor died and I believed I wouldn’t be able to make them after all? And then I realized that not only were these originally made before the invention of the food processor, they were invented pre-electicity. D’oh. Now I simply prechop the nuts, put all the ingredients in a bowl, let the orange juice moisten the fruits for about 10 minutes, then dump the whole thing onto the cutting board. A few minutes of chopping with a knife and it’s behaving wonderfully.