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Stuffed Prunes and Dates
Delicious confections to use instead of candy.
Soak the prunes overnight, dry, and stuff with chopped nuts, raisins, or apricots. Wash the dates, dry them, and stuff the same as prunes. These and the Parisian Sweets are good to eat and good for you.
A no-cook confection that still works, though modern dried fruit behaves differently from the hard, sun-dried prunes of a century ago.
- Prunes have changedToday's packaged prunes are sold pitted and partially rehydrated, so an overnight soak will leave them slack and hard to fill. Ten to fifteen minutes in warm water is enough, or skip the soak entirely if they are already plump.
- PittingIf you buy prunes with stones, slit each one along one side with a paring knife and lever the pit out, keeping the fruit whole so the cut acts as a pocket. Do the same with whole dates rather than halving them.
- "Dry" means dryBlot the fruit thoroughly on a towel before filling. Surface moisture makes chopped nuts slide out and turns any sugar coating sticky and grey.
- Washing datesThe instruction likely reflects dates sold loose or pressed into slabs, which often arrived dusty. Modern packaged dates need only a quick rinse and a wipe, if that.
- Filling proportionsFigure roughly a teaspoon of filling per fruit. Chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans hold their shape best; raisins and dried apricots are easier to work with if chopped fine and pressed together into a small plug.
- FinishingThe recipe says nothing about a coating, but stuffed fruits of this kind were commonly rolled in granulated sugar. Fine sugar or a light dusting of confectioners' sugar does the same job.
- Yield and keepingA pound of prunes or dates should give roughly 40 to 50 pieces. They will keep about a week in a tin at room temperature, layered between waxed paper.
- Parisian SweetsThe cross-reference points to another entry in the same book, typically a ground mixture of dried fruit and nuts pressed flat, cut in squares and rolled in sugar.
The closing line, "good to eat and good for you," is the period's nutritional argument in miniature: prunes and dates were widely promoted as mild laxatives and sources of iron, and California prune growers advertised heavily to American households in these decades. Stuffed dates rolled in sugar are still often seen on holiday sweet trays.