The Last Bite Is the Sweetest

After a huge holiday meal, no one wants to leap quickly from the table. We want to linger and talk. Thus the best dessert course is rich and plural, consisting of at least a choice of pies, followed by fruits and nuts, coffees, cordials, chocolates and perhaps sweetmeats, the little jewel-like confections crafted from the simplest of ingredients: nuts and dried fruits.

As such, sweetmeats must have been the original dessert, for nuts and dried fruits occur effortlessly by themselves. We have refined the basic ingredients and embroidered them with chocolate, caramel and sugar, but at heart, sweetmeats are a simple treat that refresh and stimulate a sleepy palate with a nibble and a bite of sweet flavors.

Some simple sweetmeats are dried fruits stuffed with roasted nuts; almond paste scented and colored with floral extracts; candied fruit peels dipped in chocolate; caramel-covered walnuts clasping a disk of almond paste; succulent dates filled with rose-colored marzipan and garnished with green pistachios. They can get as simple or as complicated as you desire.

During the winter, the supply of local fresh fruits is limited. There are, however, many kinds of citrus fruit available, from the tiny kumquat to the giant pomelo, and all their peels can be converted to candies, which, in turn, can be dipped in chocolate or placed in the bottom of a teacup as a tart sweetener.

Many of the fruits that were fresh a few months ago are now dried--peaches, figs, apricots, apples, cherries and prunes. Their flesh should be moist and succulent, wonderful with toasted nuts.

The humble prune is completely transformed when stuffed with a little orange zest, a toasted nut and a chunk of good, dark chocolate.

Dates have their season in the winter, and more than 100 varieties, from pale gold to black, are grown in Southern California. Their season is from November through January, and when fresh, dates are unbelievably luscious and tender, the ideal vessel for morsels of marzipan and nuggets of pistachio nuts.

Sweetmeats are made from a few basic elements that keep well and can be assembled in many appealing combinations as they are needed. They might have a special place at a holiday party, but they also make a lovely and unusual party gift. Children also can be involved in the process of their making. Depending on how much sugar and chocolate one uses, sweetmeats even make a reasonably healthy dessert.

Tucked into gold and silver foil cases and lodged in a tower of tangerines and pomegranates, sweetmeats are as delightful to the eye as they are attractive to the mouth. Each is a pleasure to make and a gem to offer.

Almond paste is the basis for many sweetmeats. The paste can be stuffed into dried fruits, used as soft centerpieces for perfect walnut halves or, used by itself, shaped into mounds and dipped into chocolate.

ALMOND PASTE

2 cups whole almonds

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Few drops almond extract

Cover almonds with boiling water and let stand at least 1 minute, then drain. Slip off skins with fingers. If very stubborn, cover nuts again with boiling water and remove just few at time. When finished, dry almonds out in 250-degree oven while syrup mixture cooks. Don’t toast almonds.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in pan and cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer dipped in middle of syrup, without touching pan, registers 235 degrees. Remove pan from heat and stir in almond extract.

Transfer warm almonds to food processor and grind until smooth and fine. If necessary, add 1 or 2 tablespoons water to loosen mixture and make processing easier. With processor running, pour in syrup in slow, steady stream until paste is uniform. Wrap paste in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. To make paste soft and easy to work with, set paste in warm place or heat in steamer set over simmering water. Makes about 1 pound.

ORANGE-ALMOND PASTE

1 recipe Almond Paste

Grated zest of 4 large oranges

2 teaspoons orange flower water

1 drop orange food color

Knead Almond Paste along with orange zest, orange flower water and food color. Wrap and refrigerate. Flavors will deepen as paste ripens.

ROSE-ALMOND PASTE

1 recipe Almond Paste

Few drops beet juice or red food color

1 to 2 teaspoons rose water

Knead Almond Paste along with food color and rose water until both are completely incorporated. Wrap and refrigerate.

Note: Rose water is available in specialty food stores or drug stores.

Medjools, the largest of blond dates, make a big, plump mouthful .

MEDJOOL DATES WITH ORANGE-ALMOND PASTE

Medjool dates

Orange-Almond Paste

Candied orange peel or chopped walnuts

Superfine sugar, optional

Slit open dates and remove pits. For each date, roll marble of Orange-Almond Paste between palms and shape into 1 lozenge. Fit lozenge neatly into date. Bring edges of date against paste, leaving wide ribbon exposed.

Chop few pieces candied orange peel and/or walnuts into fine pieces and sprinkle over exposed almond paste. Dust with superfine sugar and set date in paper case.

Large, luscious and dramatic, black dates set off all colors well, but the combination of the pink almond paste and green pistachios against the shiny black dates is especially pretty.

BLACK DATES WITH ROSE-ALMOND PASTE

Black dates

Rose-Almond Paste

Rose water

Finely chopped peeled pistachio nuts

Carefully slit dates lengthwise and remove pits. For each date, roll 1 piece Rose-Almond Paste between palms and shape into 1 lozenge. Fit neatly into date. Bring edges of date against paste, leaving wide ribbon exposed. Brush little rose water over surface. Gently press exposed paste into mound of pistachios or decorate with single bright green piece.

Grapefruit peels make a big, plump sweetmeat (they are wonderful diced and used in baking) and the peels from Ruby Grapefruit yield pale pink candies. The same treatment can be used for oranges and lemons. Be sure to use organically grown fruits. This recipe makes a lot. There’s no reason why you can’t candy less at a time, as you need it.

These citrus rinds are also very nice to serve with tea. When placed in the bottom of a teacup, they both sweeten the tea and give that tart, zesty flavor that people like. After the tea is drunk, there’s a little morsel of candy to eat.

CANDIED GRAPEFRUIT PEELS

3 grapefruit

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Superfine sugar for coating

Score grapefruit into quarters and remove peels. Place peels in large pan and cover with cold water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes. Remove peels and allow to cool. Scrape away as much of pith as possible with spoon. Cut cleaned peels into 1/4-inch-wide strips.

Combine granulated sugar, water and corn syrup in 2-quart saucepan and bring to boil. Add peels. Reduce heat and cook slowly until peels are translucent, about 1 hour. Set cake rack over baking sheet and remove peels, few at time, to rack. Spread out and let excess syrup drip off, about 1 minute.

Cover clean, large plate with superfine sugar. Toss drained peels few at time in sugar. When coated, transfer to another rack to dry. From time to time, pass sugar through sieve to clean, removing any clumps. Allow sugared peels to dry 1 hour or so, then carefully pack in airtight containers.

Store in refrigerator or cupboard. They will keep several months in refrigerator. If used for sweetmeats, serve as soon as possible while they are most moist. If desired, dip one end in chocolate first and let set. Makes 12 peels.

This pretty confection is covered with caramel threads. Caramel softens when exposed to moisture in the air, so keep these treats in an airtight container until just before serving.

WALNUT HALVES WITH ALMOND PASTE AND CARAMEL THREADS

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 perfect walnut halves per confection

Almond Paste, any flavor or mixture

Finely chopped peeled pistachio nuts

To make caramel, pour sugar into medium saucepan. Dribble water over top and let stand few minutes to absorb. Pour in corn syrup. Set pan over medium heat and cook until mixture turns into deep golden syrup. Immediately set pan in bowl of ice water to stop cooking.

At first, caramel will be quite thin. At this point, dip walnut halves into caramel to lightly coat pieces and set on parchment paper or buttered wax paper to cool. (If caramel gets too cool to dip, reheat briefly to thin out. It may be necessary to do this several times.)

Shape Almond Paste into marbles, then flatten into disks about same size as walnuts. Roll edges into finely chopped pistachio nuts, then set each disk between 2 walnut halves.

Check caramel by dipping fork into it and waving it back and forth. Try over parchment paper for practice. If cool enough to form threads, wave over confections to make net of caramel. When finished, set each sweetmeat carefully into paper case and store in airtight container until ready to serve. Makes about 1 dozen walnut halves.