Chocolate Fruit and Nut Kisses

Apart from melting the chocolate, this is a no-cook recipe, so it’s easy to make with children, though the finished sweetmeats are complex enough to please adults as well.

INGREDIENTS

1⁄2 cup dark raisins

1⁄2 cup dried apricots

1⁄2 cup red crystallized cherries, halved

2 tablespoons dark rum or orange juice

1⁄4 cup brazil nuts or macadamia nuts

4 ounces dark (semisweet or bitter sweet) chocolate, melted

2 ounces white chocolate, melted

Coarsely chop raisins. Cut each apricot into about 8 pea-sized pieces. Coarsely chop half the cherries. Cut the remainder in half and set aside. In a small bowl combine chopped raisins, apricots, and chopped cherries with rum. Set aside for 15 minutes.

If using brazil nuts, cut them each into 4-5 pieces. If using macadamias, halve them. Melt dark chocolate in a medium bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water (or use a microwave). Stir in raisin mixture and then nuts. Keeping a damp towel nearby so you can wipe your hands as necessary, form the chocolate mixture into 20-24 roughly shaped balls. Set them on parchment or wax paper as you go.

In a small bowl set over simmering water or in a microwave, melt white chocolate. Using a small teaspoon, top chocolate balls with some of the white chocolate, adding a halved cherry as you go. Let the kisses firm up before serving with coffee or adding to a cookie platter. Alternately, put the chocolate balls into paper candy cups and pack them in a box as a gift.