I love hosting dinner parties, but I hate host anxiety.
To combat this, Im always looking out for beautiful, impressive recipes that are secretly simple.
What is glaceed fruit?
An added benefit: the sweetness of the sugar coating can give out-of-season fruit a helping hand, flavor-wise.
The thin coating of sugar cools within minutes and clings, gleaming, to the surface of the fruit.
Cherries, clusters of grapes, and strawberries are all easy to hold and dip.
Anything without a stem can be skewered and dipped too.
The first step is to ready your fruit.
Wash and dry it and ensure its at room temperature.
The goal is to ensure the sugar will adhere smoothly to the fruits skin.
Just start with room temp fruit, okay?
When your fruit is dry and ready, make the hot sugar syrup.
Use a small, deep pot and at least one cup of sugar with a couple tablespoons of water.
Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature if you arent sure.
Thats it as far as Marthas recipe goes, but I made some adjustments.
I didnt like how my fruits candied surfaces came out.
Hard ball stage is best for sticky, chewy candy, like caramels.
I love caramel, but this is not it.
When you bite the fruit the sugar immediately sticks to every tooth.
Instead, I found cooking the sugar to the soft crackhard crack stage worked better for my cherries.
The sugar was crispy instead of chewy, and dissolved in my mouth.
The plating process improved as well; the sugar at hard crack isnt nearly as stickyunless it gets humid.
The final change I suggest is to cool the fruit on an oiled drying rack after dipping.
Just line the fruit up on parchment paper and sprinkle the sugar syrup over them in little drops.
The result will be sparkling morsels that appear to have been freshly harvested on a dewy morning.
