Sugarplums — The Sweet That Carries the Season Home

December. First snow. Not the real snow — the performative snow that Milwaukee gets in early December, where it's pretty for about four hours and then turns to grey slush that will be on the ground until March. But for those four hours, Bay View looks like a postcard and I stand at my apartment window with coffee and pretend I live somewhere charming instead of somewhere that will try to freeze me to death in six weeks.

Christmas prep is starting. At the brewery, we're doing holiday gift packs — a mix of our seasonal beers in festive packaging. I designed the beer selection: the winter warmer, the coffee stout, the Oktoberfest (a few kegs left over), and a new holiday spiced ale with orange peel and clove. The gift packs sell well. Everyone needs a last-minute present, and a box of beer is the universal fallback of men shopping for other men.

Megan and I are navigating our first Christmas as a couple. The logistics of two families, two traditions, two sets of expectations. Her family does Christmas Eve. Mine does Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. Babcia's tradition was Wigilia — the Polish Christmas Eve supper — and Tom and Linda still do a version of it, though smaller than Babcia's. Twelve dishes, one for each apostle. Mushroom soup, pierogi, fried fish, poppy seed cake. No meat until Christmas Day. I've been making the mushroom soup for this dinner since Babcia died, and it's the one recipe I will never, ever change.

We decided: Christmas Eve with the Kowalskis, Christmas Day with the O'Briens. It's not perfect — Megan will miss her family's Christmas Eve mass, I'll miss Tom's morning — but compromise is what you do. Megan said, "Next year we'll figure out a rotation." Next year. She said "next year" like it was obvious that there would be one. I am so in love with this woman.

Made a batch of poppy seed roll — makowiec — this week. Babcia's recipe, naturally. Yeast dough filled with sweetened poppy seed paste, rolled tight, baked until golden. The apartment smelled like Christmas. Like Babcia's kitchen. Like home.

The apartment still smelled like poppy seed and yeast when I started thinking about what else to put out for Wigilia — something small, jewel-bright, something that looked like the holidays feel before the obligations set in. Sugarplums are the answer every time: no oven needed once the makowiec is cooling on the rack, no fuss, just dried fruit and warm spice and a little patience rolling them in sugar. They travel well to Megan’s family’s table on Christmas Day, they photograph beautifully in a little dish by the window, and more than anything, they taste like exactly the kind of thing Babcia would have set out alongside the poppy seed cake without making a big deal of it.

Sugarplums

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes + 30 minutes chilling | Servings: 24 sugarplums

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds
• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground anise or fennel seed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions

1. Process the fruit and nuts. Combine the dates, apricots, cherries, cranberries, almonds, and pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 10–12 times until the mixture is finely chopped and begins to clump together; do not over-process into a paste — you want some texture remaining.
2. Add the flavorings. Add the honey, orange zest, cinnamon, cardamom, anise, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Pulse another 4–6 times until fully incorporated and the mixture holds together when pressed.
3. Chill the mixture. Turn the mixture out onto a clean surface or bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This firms it up and makes rolling much easier.
4. Roll into balls. Scoop roughly 1 tablespoon of the chilled mixture and roll firmly between your palms into a smooth ball about 1 inch in diameter. Repeat with remaining mixture — you should get approximately 24 pieces.
5. Coat in sugar. Pour the granulated sugar into a shallow bowl. Roll each sugarplum in the sugar until evenly coated, pressing gently so the sugar adheres. Place on a parchment-lined tray.
6. Store or serve. Sugarplums can be served immediately or stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, or refrigerated for up to 1 month. They also freeze well for up to 3 months. For gifting, arrange in a small tin lined with parchment or wax paper.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 72 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 12mg