Sunday, December 26, 2010

Visions of Sugar Plums

I made Sugar Plums this year, after I saw them on a food network show some weeks ago.

Much like "Turkish Delight" from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, sometimes the desserts sound much better than they actually taste.

The sugar plums I made taste quite good if you are prepared for what they are.  And, from what I can tell, they're pretty good for you as well.

They have three different kinds of dried fruit (plums, apricots and figs), some almonds, a little powdered sugar and they're rolled in sanding sugar.  The fennel seed and cardamom add some kick to what would be simple fruit. Dried fruit has lots of fiber and vitamin c. 

They're a traditional dish from a Victorian Christmas, where fresh fruit was difficult to come by during this season.  Refined sugar would have also been hard to find during the mid-nineteenth century.

I have some photos, but they don't look terribly attractive or appetizing. At all.  So I'll leave it to your imagination of what fruitcake looks like (evidently, fruitcake is made from similar ingredients). 

I will include this photo of the festivus pole my kids painted from a table leg.  It started out just being something they painted for their dad for Christmas, but knowing festivus traditions as I do, I thought a festivus pole would make a wonderful edition for our family.  I think we will also skip the "airing of grievances" this year.  We may have feats of strength yet.

Happy holidays everyone!  Have a peaceful holiday, whatever you may celebrate.

1 comment:

Freckle Face Girl said...

I have never had sugar plums. What a joy to take part in a traditional holiday activity.

My mom has a friend that makes fruit cake every year. Supposedly, she has an amazing recipe with lots of specialty ingredients. It ends up costing about $100, so it isn’t the kind of thing you share with just anyone. While, it sounds interesting to me, I often wonder if the joy of eating it comes close to the money spent.