Visions of sugar plums

Ladies and gentlemen, sugar plums are for real. I'm aware that this might seem obvious to other people. But I'm the sort of person who was shocked to learn that marshmallows didn't come into the world in the perfectly cylindrical, tasteless, styrofoam-ish form we all know and love. Really, despite being nearly-vegan I sometimes forget that certain foods didn't originate in cellophane wrappers and plastic bags. Granola bars fall into that category too, now that I think about it. Of course, that was before I started making my own granola bars and marshmallows. But I digress.

Sugar plums are for real. Here I am, in the 28th year of my life, and I had no idea what visions of sugar plums actually look like. Well, it turns out they're balls of chopped up nuts and dried fruits. Yep, that's all. On the one hand that's a bit of a let down, as my young imagination had come up with something much more colorful and magical. But on the other hand, they're easy to make and wicked tasty.



I found recipes here and here and adapted them. Basically, I used the ingredients and measurements from the first recipe and added the spices from the second. Mine are rolled in turbinado sugar. Right now they're a bit on the moist side, as my dried fruit was really fresh. (Ahem, and I might have been a tad heavy handed with the Grand Marnier.) I'll leave them out for a bit and roll them in more sugar. Total working time - about 10 minutes. Let me reiterate, they're really good. Yay for new Christmas traditions!