What is classier than sugared fruit in a pretty bowl? Fruit is so welcome this time of year, but adding a frost of sugar makes them even more tempting. These are not the sugarplums of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, but they are gorgeous nonetheless.
I like that this recipe does not use egg white for the sticking agent as you see in many sugared fruit recipes.This method uses thinned marshmallow cream for the sugar to stick. Much better because you don’t have to worry about salmonella from raw egg.
You can make sugared grapes, cumquats, fresh cranberries, apples, tangerines/clementines, oranges, plums, etc. The smaller fruits look great on top of a cake as “sugar plums” set on top of white icing. The larger ones look wonderful as part of a centerpiece.
Sugared Fruit
The fruit listed are just suggestions. This method works for any fruit.
Wash and dry all fruit, including 1/4 cup whole cranberries, fresh or frozen.
Cut 1/2 pound of green grapes and 1/2 pound of red grapes into small bunches of 3 or 4 grapes each.
Spread out sheets of waxed paper to put coated fruit on. Put some sugar in a shallow bowl.
In a small bowl, mix 4 teaspoons water with 2 teaspoons of marshmallow cream. (Ratio is always 2-to-1.)
Brush fruit with the marshmallow cream mixture, then hold the fruit over the sugar bowl and spoon sugar above all sides to cover evenly. Place sugared fruit on the waxed paper to air-dry. Let them dry 4-6 hours before placing them on a cake or in a centerpiece.
If you want to use just a few sugared grapes as garnish on a turkey platter or ham platter, etc. you won’t need to make as many. They also look nice in a centerpiece mixed with a few pine cones, candles, and/or greenery.
You could also place an individual piece of sugared fruit at each place setting. Add a bow to the stem if you like. Very chic!
These sugared fruits will last about as long as they would have if they were not sugared & not refrigerated.
Very pretty, very easy, and fun to eat afterwards! Where else can you find something so inexpensive that looks so elegant?
Maggie says
Absolutely! You can even eat them with the sugar on if you like. For winter holidays you can add sprigs of greenery and pine cones. Thanks for your comment, debtgirl! I hope you like these!
debtgirl says
Can you wash them off afterwards to eat them? This is great!
Maggie says
Marshmallow cream is a spreadable version of marshmallows. I found this recipe at http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf27030552.tip.htmlCom : “For 1 cup marshmallow cream heat 16 large or 160 miniature marshmallows + 2 tsp corn syrup in the top of a double boiler.” Comment #2: “I’ve gone through all the trouble of counting and measuring and weighing, and finally figured out that it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be precise. The only problem I’ve ever run into, is that marshmallows are coated in powder, so if you use too many, it may harden a little too fast. You can alleviate this by setting the pan your cooking it in on a very low heat till you’re through mixing (for some reason, the heat keeps it soft), then immediately pour into the pan to set. Comes out great every time.”
I hope it works for you!
Anonymous says
Can you please tell me what is marshmellow cream ? I do not think we have that in SA.
Maggie says
Marie, you are right. You can do this any time of year & just think of all the beautiful fruit in the summer! I know fruit is nature’s candy, but this makes them more so!
Maggie says
Ashley, I really want to make a bunch of cumquats like this because you can eat the peels. They are so yummy even without the sugar. Have fun!
Marie at FamilyMoneyValues says
Wow I never thought about doing sugared fruit! It looks great and I bet it would be good in the summertime as well.
Ashley @ Money Talks says
This is so pretty!!! Seriously, I’m blown away. I want to do this.