Mignardise

The tree is up. My Christmas shopping is done. (are you jealous?) The cookies are baked, decorated by a pack of little giggling girls. Everything is lovingly wrapped in reds and greens. My house if full of twinkling stars, twirling snowflakes. Those fruitcakes are soaking in rum. My kitchen smells like rum, cinnamon, spiced cider. Our advent calendar is only half-full, we've run through all our Christmas music. Now, it's all just ANTICIPATION.

There are days when the kitchen table is covered with drying citrus, chocolate-covered marshmallows, cookies that glisten with sprinkles.  Some evenings the aroma of spiced cider pulls us together.  We re-learn that Rudolph tale with mugs of hot chocolate...a homemade marshmallow plopped in there! We play Jingle Bells on the piano and sip hot buttered rum.  Eggnog becomes our new dessert. Chocolate truffles infused with cardamom, Frangelico, star anise are tucked into small boxes.  My fruitcake gets its last rum bath.  For a few days my kitchen becomes factory-like:  small treats packed into red boxes, shiny bags, ribboned baskets.

Everyone gets something:  one brother gets a pack of spice rubs.  The other:  chocolate.  My parents don't expect--or want!--a store-bought present. Made With Love is the message from my house.  Friends may get a pack of marshmallows:  peppermint, chocolate, orange.  Others get a sampling of truffles;  the most reliable ones get the motherload. 

My favorite Christmas confection doesn't leave my house.  It's not for everyone.  Sweetmeats are beautiful sculptures formed with dried fruits and nuts.  They are not the indulgence of chocolate.  They are, in fact, vegan!  (They are actually good for you!)  Bonus:  they're not hard to make.  These require only  frilly paper cups for display:  small bite-sized squares, pyramids, spheres  of sweet nestled in pretty paper feels so Martha.

Chopped dried apricots may meld with toasted pistachios and ginger, transformed into a pyramid of shiny orange studded with green.  Dates, stuffed with candied orange peel;  dried plums, full of lemon confit;  dried figs and almonds, pop-in-your-mouth globes;  a trio of dried pineapple, mango, and crystallized ginger, rolled in toasted coconut.

Sweetmeats do not shout.  These confections are not jump up-and-down excitement.  Sophisticated, quietly elegant, they slide right next to an espresso on its saucer.  They partner perfectly with that post-feasting coffee.  They are the perfect foil for cognac.  They are Second Dessert.  In French, this course is the Mignardise:  the little mouthful that accompanies that after dinner drink. (What other culture not only has 2nd dessert, but gives it a name?!)

Sweetmeats symbolize that savoir-vivre.  With their sneak-up-on-you charm, they perk up the tired dinner table, full of crumbs, crumpled napkins, the menagerie of emptied glasses.  Suddenly, our smiles widen.  This treat is totally unexpected!  These sugarplums pull you through the rest of the evening, the crowning jewel of your dinner.