Chocolate Coated Sugar Plums
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
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180g/6ozs slivered almonds or whole pecans (I used half half)
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100g/3.5ozs dried plums/prunes (I used home dried sugar plums)
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100g/3.5ozs Turkish apricots
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100g/3.5ozs Medjool dates (about 7 or 8 whole dates), pitted
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1/4 cup honey
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1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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1/2 teaspoon allspice
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1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
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pinch salt
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1/2 cup white sugar
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200g/7ozs. dark chocolate
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1/2 teaspoon copha or coconut oil
Step 1 - Preheat an oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with a layer of the nuts. Bake for 8-10 minutes until toasted and fragrant. Cool.
Step 2 - In a good processor place the nuts and the remaining ingredients except for the white sugar and chocolate and process until fine in texture.
Step 3 - Place the white sugar on a plate and with damp hands, roll the mixture into small balls and roll them in the sugar.
4. Melt the chocolate and copha or coconut oil in a double boiler (a heatproof bowl fitted over a saucepan of simmering water ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesnt touch the water) or in the microwave on 50% power with 60 second bursts, stirring between bursts.
Step 5 - Line a tray with parchment. Using two forks, gently lift a sugar plum into the chocolate and gently move it around so that the bottom and sides are covered in chocolate. you can also dip the whole sugar plum sweet inside the chocolate. Allow the excess chocolate to drip from the sugar plum and then place on the lined tray. Allow to set (it's currently a little warm so I placed these in the fridge). Wrap in tissue paper.
Note: If you are not coating these in chocolate and aren't serving these straight away you can just roll them into balls and allow them to air dry overnight and then store in an airtight container for about a month. Roll them in the sugar before you serve them.
Personal Note
Many moons ago when I was living in Japan, I worked with a Canadian girl called Janet. We got along well, there something quite similar with the Australian and Canadian sensibility. She was also a keen photographer and one day she asked me to be her model. Now I was never going to be model material. At 158 cms I qualify for nothing except child modelling and the problem with that is that I look nothing like a child. But it was exciting for me to be asked by her.
She shot with film and I wore two different outfits, a red cheongsam and a bright orange dress and boots. We took photos in shop windows and locations that she had scouted out. I tried to mimic what I had seem on televisions shows and I was nervous to see how I was doing.
"Oh don't worry, it's very little to do with the model, it's all about the light," she said.
That relieved and confused me. I felt relieved of my duties or at least off the hook in terms if the results, but really if it want about the model, then why we're some models being paid millions of dollars more than others?