Sugar plums

These old-fashioned homemade sugar plums will be dancing in your head this holiday season! Full of warm spices, dried fruits, and toasted nuts, sugar plums are a festive and delicious treat to add to your cookie tray or homemade gifts.

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Before I looked up sugar plums and started reading recipes, I never knew they were a real treat and had never tried one. 

And, now that I've tried them, I can see why the sleeping children had visions of them dancing in the heads as the slept on Christmas Eve. 

Sugar plums contain various dried fruits and spices along with nuts. There appear to be numerous recipes out there, each one utilizing some different nuts, fruits, and spices. I read many recipes and over the years have developed my favorite.

Sugar plums invoke in me a sense of days past and make me think that they would have been something my great-grandmother may have enjoyed. The smell of the warm spices and the orange zest make these feel perfect for winter. They feel very nostalgic to me.

They smell of Christmas and taste of it, too. I think these are best made while listening to Bing Crosby or Perry Como Christmas music - something relatively old-fashioned, soft, quiet, and relaxing.

If you are looking for one more Christmas or winter holiday treat, give these a try. They are pretty simple to make and you don't have to turn on your oven. 

Sugar plums make a perfect snack, holiday gift, hostess gift, or a lovely addition to a Christmas party. Everyone who has tried them over the years has loved them.

Rolling these sugar plums is a messy job, but it's worth it! They will make your food processor quite sticky. 

They will also make your hands very sticky! Wet your hands in a bit of water before rolling to help prevent too much sticking. Get kids involved by helping with the rolling into balls and into the sugar. 

My kids love to eat these sweet and sticky holiday treats and ask for them every year. I hope they will become a tradition in your family as well.

Yield: about 30 pieces

Sugar Plums

These homemade old-fashioned sugar plums will be dancing in your head this holiday season! Full of warm spices, dried fruits, and toasted nuts, sugar plums are a festive and delicious treat to add to your cookie tray or homemade gifts.

ingredients:

• 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
• 1 cup pitted and chopped dates
• 1/2 cup pitted and chopped prunes
• 1/2 cup pitted and chopped dried unsulphured apricots
• zest of 1 medium/large orange
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• pinch of fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup super fine or fine granulated sugar

instructions:

How to cook Sugar Plums

1. Add all of the ingredients except the sugar to a food processor. Pulse on high for about four to five minutes, until the ingredients are all combined and start sticking together. You may need to start/stop/and scrape a few times as it is very sticky and gets thick.
2. Place the mixture in a bowl.
3. Place the sugar in a small bowl. Roll about 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture in your hands to form balls. Roll the balls lightly in the sugar. Set aside and repeat until all the mixture is used.
4. Eat joyously. Store in an airtight container for several days. The sugar will start to melt off a bit, so you may want to re-roll before serving or wait to roll in the sugar until serving time.
   

Created using The Recipes Generator

I hope you give these sugar plums a try! Let me know in the comments below.

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This recipe was originally published in 2011 and has been updated in 2020 and 2021 with new text, a recipe card and more to improve reader experience.

Check out these other holiday recipes:

Sweet & Spiced Glazed Mixed Nuts

Eggnog Truffles 

Persimmon Gingerbread Loaf Cake

Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies  

Pistachio Cardamom Crescent Cookies