SPICY DRIED FRUIT DESSERT SAUCE

Spicy Dried Fruit Dessert Sauce image

One of Julia Child's holiday tips to the readers of Parade, where she wrote a recipe column from 1982 to 1985, was to "spiffy up" store-bought mincemeat with grated apple and liquor, then heat it in a saucepan to make a rich, fragrant sauce. This is a fine idea, but almost as easy is mixing up a batch of mincemeat (minus the meat) at home. The cook can control the balance of sugar, citrus and spice and also use up all the half-empty containers of dried fruit that seem to end up lurking in kitchen cabinets. This "recipe" is entirely flexible; feel free to add orange zest, walnuts, apricots or whatever you like. The sauce will be equally good on pumpkin or sweet potato pie, ice cream or baked apples.

Provided by Julia Moskin

Categories jams, jellies and preserves, dessert

Time P1D

Yield 2 cups

Number Of Ingredients 16

Ingredients

1 tart apple, peeled and cored
4 ounces golden raisins
3 ounces dark brown sugar
2 ounces prunes or dried figs, coarsely chopped
2 ounces walnut or pecan halves
1 ounces dried cherries
1 ounce cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 ounce crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup brandy, like Cognac or Calvados
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground clove
Dark rum, apple cider or orange juice
Black pepper to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (optional)

Steps:

Combine all ingredients except those to finish the sauce in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped; do not purée. Transfer to an airtight container and let rest at least 1 day, or up to 4 weeks.
When ready to serve, transfer to a saucepan and add enough rum or other liquid to loosen. Heat until warm and bubbly. If desired, add black pepper to make the mixture more spicy. To make a richer sauce, whisk in cold butter 1 tablespoon at a time, to taste.
Serve warm over ice cream, pumpkin pie or baked apples.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 444, UnsaturatedFat 10 grams, Carbohydrate 71 grams, Fat 16 grams, Fiber 5 grams, Protein 4 grams, SaturatedFat 5 grams, Sodium 17 milligrams, Sugar 56 grams, TransFat 0 grams