Best Drunken Prunes Recipes

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI, DRUNKEN PRUNES, AND AMARETTI

Steps:

• Add prunes and Marsala to a medium skillet. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately remove skillet from heat and set aside.
• Fill a large pot with 4 quarts water; season with salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Add butter to skillet with prunes and Marsala and return to high heat; cook until butter is melted.
• Add gnocchi to boiling water; cook until gnocchi rise to the top. Continue cooking 1 minute more. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water to skillet with prune mixture. Using a wire-mesh skimmer, transfer gnocchi to a warm, shallow serving platter. Pour prune mixture over top.
• Garnish with crushed amaretti; serve immediately.

BREAD PUDDING WITH DRUNKEN PRUNES

Steps:

• Place diced prunes in a small jar or bowl, pour Comfort ove rtop; let sit about 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350. Brush 2-quart baking dish with 1 T. melted butter, set aside.
• In a large bowl, drizzle remaining butter over bread cubes. Scatter cubes on a baking sheet and brown lightly in the preheating oven. Remove and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, cream and vanilla. Add eggs, yolks, sugar and salt, whisking until smooth; set aside.
• Dump bread cubes into prepared baking dish. Remove prunes from liquor (or it might all have soaked in) and toss with cubes. Pour egg-mixture over top of cubes and prunes; cover.
• Place baking dish in a water bath (water should come 3/4 of the way up the sides of the dish), in the oven. Bake for one hour (or until "set").
• Remove dish from water bath, chill for two hours in refrigerator before unmolding from baking dish (or leave in the pan if you're not doing a fancy presentation).
• If you prefer to serve the pudding HOT, let it rest only until it is unpuffed--but do NOT unmold to serve.
• Serve with "butter-rum" sauce (1/2 cup each melted butter and powdered sugar with 3 T rum splashed in--heat briefly in the microwave) OR vanilla ice cream OR whipped cream.

DRUNKEN PRUNES RECIPE

Steps:

• Place all ingredients except the mascarpone and zest in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to medium low and keep the mixture at a gentle boil until the liquid is syrupy, about 45 minutes. (Put a spoonful of syrup on a plate and let it cool for a minute. Draw your finger through the syrup. If it immediately runs back together, it is not ready. If it holds the line you drew, it's ready.) Let cool at least 15 minutes. Discard the cinnamon sticks and vanilla pod.
• Place the mascarpone and lemon zest in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Divide the cheese mixture among 10 dessert plates, spreading it into a wide well with a spoon. Place 6 prunes in the center of each well and drizzle with syrup.
• Prunes' reputation as a geriatric-friendly high-fiber food prompted the California Prune Board to request an official name change. In 2000, the FDA granted the board (now called the California Dried Plum Board) permission to call these fruits dried plums instead of prunes.
• We don't care what you call them. Just stew them in port and red wine and serve with mascarpone, heavy cream, whipped cream, ricotta cheese, crème fraîche, ice cream, you name it. Or pour them over pound cake, like in this Drunken Prune-Mascarpone Trifle.