Spiced Fruit (Southern Living 1979)

For our 2013 Christmas lunch, Audry made a hot fruit dish that made a regular appearance on our family's Thanksgiving or Christmas menu growing up.  You'll have to wait until November or December for that recipe, since it is in her 1981 Southern Living cookbook.  Anyway, that dish was Little Miss's favorite.  She had at least three helpings on Christmas Day, and I'm pretty sure she ate the remainder of the leftovers almost completely by herself.  Pretty impressive for a two and a half year old.

When Audry saw the "Spiced Fruit" recipe in the February section of the Southern Living 1979 cookbook, she chose that in hopes that Little Miss would enjoy it just as much.  My sisters almost picked the recipe right after this one, just to make us see what in the world a "Dried Fruit Soup" was like.  Thankfully, they both spared us.  However, since it is in the picture of the spiced fruit recipe, feel free to try it, and let me know how it turns out.  :-)

I changed only a few things in this recipe.  I didn't add any sugar or salt.  I'm sure it would have tasted just as good with those items, but for our typically low sugar family, the extra sugar wasn't necessary.  I also left out the orange peel.  Even though Little Miss ate an entire lemon wedge (yes, peel and all!) on Saturday night when we went out to eat with my parents, my sisters and their families, and my grandmother, I just couldn't bring myself to put the peel of an entire orange into the spiced fruit.

(My version) Spiced Fruit
2 navel oranges
2 cans pear halves, drained
2 cans apricot halves, drained
1.5 cups 100% orange juice
2 sticks cinnamon
12 whole cloves

Peel oranges, and cut into about 1-inch pieces.  Put into a large bowl or tupperware that can be covered easily.
Add the pears and apricots (I cut these a little more since I'm in the business of feeding little people).  Mix the fruits together.
Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Simmer five minutes.
Pour over fruit.  Cover and chill in refrigerator for a few hours.

This recipe is VERY different from "hot fruit", since it is kept cold!  ;-) Regardless, it was very good, and when the OJ, cinnamon, and cloves were on the stove, it smelled very good.  The only drawback from my perspective was that Little Man wasn't too fond of the oranges.  This wasn't a huge problem since oranges can be easily spotted and removed.  Even with the "no oranges, please" request from Little Man, he and Little Miss both had at least three helpings of this on Sunday night. 

Lindy