During the winter season, cuddled on the sofa with a warm cover, maybe in front of the fireplace, there is nothing more delicious than enjoying a hot chocolate or nibbling on some crunchy or sweet almonds. Caramelized dried fruit is not only a delightful snack, but it can also be an ingredient for desserts like a cake.
Caramelizing fruit is also a very easy process that you can do in your kitchen, making even the youngsters have fun.
Which caramelized dried fruit?
You can have fun with your imagination because caramelizing dried fruit has no limits. Choose what you prefer from almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, nuts, cashews, and pistachios.
But what is the caramelization of dried fruit? It is a method that takes place when combining sugar and nuts, cooking it all together on the stove and then letting it cool.
How to make caramelized dried fruit
Ingredients
5 oz sugar
2 oz water
q.b. of dried fruit (at choice)
Method
Pour the water into a saucepan and then add the sugar.
Light the fire with moderate flame and let the sugar melt over (it must not crystallize).
Cook, without stirring the sugar until it takes on a caramel color (almost brown)
To create the classic croccante, place the dried fruit in a saucepan, stirring quickly to prevent the caramel from burning and the dried fruit from sticking to the pan (the coloring must never become dark brown, a sign that the caramel is burning).
Turn off the stove and spread the caramel and dried fruit mixture on a baking sheet to cool.
Once the caramelized dried fruit has cooled, you can divide it into blocks to form the classic croccante pieces.
If you don’t want not to make the classic croccante, you can dip the individual pieces of dried fruit or several pieces at a time, then let them dry on baking paper.
To give the recipe a savory taste, just add a pinch of salt.
Caramelized dried fruit can be preserved for a long time in an airtight tin jar.
How to make sugar coated dried fruit
With sugar you can also prepare sugar coated dried fruit.
Careful though, there is a certain resemblance to the croccante, the only difference is that "sugar coated" means that each peanut or almond has a rather thin and crunchy shell of sugar. The croccante however, is a bar with much more caramel which takes on a harder texture.
Ingredients
1 lb dried fruit (your choice)
1 lb sugar
2 oz water
Method
In a saucepan put water, sugar, and dried fruit of your choice and, after lighting the flame, start stirring.
When it boils, the water will begin to run out and for about 5 minutes you will have to stir continuously until all the water has evaporated.
At this point you should continue stirring until the sugar is properly attached to the dried fruit but turn off the flame to prevent it from burning.
N.B. when the water has dried up it’s important the flame is turned off to prevent the sugar from caramelizing again. If this should happen, just add a little sugar and stir over a low flame.
When ready, the dried fruit should be placed on baking paper to cool.