ingredients

• 1 or 2 pears
• 1 or 2 apples
• other random fruit if you wish, 1 or 2 pieces (the idea is to have at least one pear, one apple, and one or two other pieces of fruit that can be pears or apples... confusing, kinda, i know)
• 1 lemon
• about half-cup dried fruit like raisins or cranberries (i hate craisins, so i don't use 'em)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• spices: cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, about a tsp or so to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 c some kind of liqueur or wine, if you wish to spike it
• loaf of some kind of fruited bread, i find blueberry works quite well
• honey in a squirtable container
• toasted walnut bits

equipment

• saucepan with lid, small to medium, and fairly sturdy
• spoon
• potato masher

cut up the fruit, dip in the juice of the lemon, reserving the zest. stick it in the saucepan along with the dried fruit, spices to taste, sugar and water into saucepan on medium-high or so, starting with the cover on to get it going. stir every 10 minutes or so, checking on it. take the cover off when it hits boiling, you're looking to keep it at a bubble, adjust heat accordingly.

when the fruit is almost mushy and the liquid is about half it's original volume, now is the time to spike the stuff. let it bubble until all fruit is pretty mushy. check for seasoning, you may want to add some honey if it isn't sweet enough for you. you can let it go a long time if you want the stuff chunkier, i've left it for up to two hours or so when not paying attention.

when it's mushy and seasoned, mash with the potato masher until it forms a chunky sauce. voila, fruit squish. this stuff freezes pretty well, so you can let it cool and stick it in a freezable container (not a zip bag) and keep it in there for a few months at the most.

the rest is pretty much presentation- slice the fruited bread, which should be at least at room temp, if not a bit warm (via the microwave is fine with me), into slices about half an inch thick. stick one on a dessert plate, ladle on some fruit squish to cover, and stick another slice of the bread on top, then ladle a generous amount on top of that. throw on some toasted walnuts, and use your honey squirter thing to make festive circles over the whole thing, make sure to get some honey on the plate because it just looks better.

serving suggestion: it works well alone, but if you want to make it taller and more tasty, stick a scoop of vanilla ice cream either next to it or on top before you add the second bit of squish. either way, really, it kind of works out to be like a bread pudding only different. it's a nice fall/winter dessert.

© the bent sun as risen