Olivia’s Neighborhood

There are so many  things I love about sugarplums.

1. They are made of dried fruit and nuts.
2. They are healthy, and more so if you skip the sugar. The serving size is perfect.
3. They require no cooking or baking. All you need is a food processor, a weighing scale, and two cooling racks. A small cookie scoop will be very useful, but you don't really need it.
4. Alton Brown made them for the Good Eats Christmas Special. How could they possibly not be good? ;)

The recipe is very flexible, so I used whatever I had in the fridge. My final recipe:

- 12 ounces almonds, toasted
- 10 ounces dried plums
- 6 ounces dried apricots
- 4 ounces dried figs
- 4 oz dates
- 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds, toasted
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 cup sorghum (or honey)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup coarse sugar (optional)

Whiz everything together in the food processor, except the sorghum/honey. Stop just before it starts to turn into a big lump. Remove to a bowl and add in the honey. Mix well. Using a tbsp or a small cookie scoop, scoop out 1/4 oz servings and roll into little balls. Roll the balls in coarse sugar and set on cooling racks. Let them rest for a few hours until completely cool and dry. Store in an airtight container.



The recipe above yielded a hundred sugarplums. Each serving (without sugar) has 35 Calories. I'll be taking these to the hospital for Christmas day call. Merry Christmas!

A pool where I frolicked as a country kid on annual holidays to the beach: 

This is Dee Why beach, one of the northern beaches of Sydney.  Every year for many years our family would holiday here - it was nice to sit here in the late afternoon and reflect on those times.