Alice’s Truffles

Are you looking for delicious holiday sweet recipe that is no-cook easy, makes a lovely and healthy finish to a holiday meal and that also is a fabulous food gift? Go ask Alice – her novel fruit, nut and spice truffles have been fashioned into delicate little confections – little jewels for the holidays.

Food gifts are a tradition in the Bijouxs kitchen, some years venturing out with a new trend, however Alice’s Truffles are the little jewels that appear on the holiday table and under the tree every year, along with Bijouxs Cheese Biscuits, Date, Fig & Balsamic Conserve, and stacks of Southern Tea Cakes. Alice’s Truffles are a sweet blend of dates, figs and nuts infused with rich mélange of traditional holiday spices – the perfect chocolate antidote.

The Bijouxs archive, my treasured three-decade file and cookbook collection, yields another little jewel to share from a well-loved cookbook Cooking for a New Earth by Carl Jerome. The book is a charming collection of healthy recipes from the former director of the James Beard Cooking Class. The title is so current, yet the cookbook is already 20 years old, food fads may come and go, but Bijouxs remain.

Alice’s Truffles grew from the not-so-innocent recipe in the original British edition of The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, which included dates, figs, nuts, spices and of course another now famously dubious ingredient. Made innocent, these little jewels are whipped up in a flash in the food processor, dusted in sweet confectioners sugar, chilled and are ready to serve.

These little gems are an elegant, light finish to a holiday meal, delightful with a cup of espresso or a thimbleful of rich Port. Alice’s Truffles serve as charming food gifts delivered in small tins or as a hostess gift placed on a tray and wrapped in delicate cheesecloth.

Alice’s Truffles- sweet little gems to give and receive.

 

As always, enjoy. B