Sweetmeats

Plump fresh dates filled with rose almond paste, candied fruit peels dipped in chocolate or dusted with sugar, disks of scented nut pastes tucked between walnut halves and netted with caramel, or a simple fig stuffied with a roasted almond—these are a few of the jewel like confections that can be crafted from simple ingredients. Based on whole nuts, nut pastes scented and colored with floral extracts, and dried fruits, sweetmeats were undoubtedly some of the first desserts. Adding chocolate and sugar elaborates what is basically a simple treat— nuts preserved in their shells and fruits dried in the sun.