Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Prune sticks are a simple fruit paste made by simmering pitted prunes with a little water, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon until they collapse, then working the purée smooth and enriching it with butter. The butter sets the paste firm once chilled, so it can be rolled or piped into long ropes and cut into neat fingers.
The flavour is deep and dark, sweet without being sugary, with a clean lift of lemon and a warm note of cinnamon. It is a useful thing to have in the fridge for petit fours and small pastries: cut into short sticks, dipped in chocolate or rolled in nuts, it also makes a good chewy filling or a garnish on a decorated cake.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
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Weight Per Unit: 185
Number of Units: 8
Unit Size: 170 g roll, cut into petit four sticks
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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1000 |
2.2 pounds
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Prunes
A prune is a dried plum of any cultivar, mostly Prunus domestica or European Plum. The use of the term for fresh fruit is obsolete except when applied to varieties grown for drying. Most dried prunes are freestone cultivars (the pit is easy to remove), whereas most other plums grown for fresh consumption are clingstone (the pit is more difficult to remove).
pitted
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roughly chopped |
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B
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250 |
1.1 cup
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Water
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C
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50 |
1.8 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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D
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50 |
1.7 fluid_ounces
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Fresh Lemon Juice
Fresh lemon juice is the juice squeezed from whole lemons and strained of seeds and pulp. It gives a natural sharpness and aroma that bottled juice cannot match, and roughly three medium lemons will yield the amount needed here.
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strained |
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E
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2.5 |
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Cinnamon
Cinnamon (/ˈsɪnəmən/ sin-ə-mən) is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods. While Cinnamomum verum is sometimes considered to be "true cinnamon", most cinnamon in international commerce is derived from related species, which are also referred to as "cassia" to distinguish them from "true cinnamon".
ground
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F
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1 |
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Potassium Sorbate (preservative 202)
Potassium sorbate, listed on labels as preservative 202, is a food-grade powder used in very small amounts to stop mould and yeast growing in jams, pastes and fillings. It is optional at home if the paste is kept refrigerated and used within a few weeks.
optional
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G
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125 |
4.4 ounces
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Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
unsalted
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softened |
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1478
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
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Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
Roughly chop A (prunes) and check them once more for stones. Line a tray or board with baking paper ready for shaping. |
Pieces roughly even so they soften at the same rate |
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2 |
Simmer |
Put A, B, C, D and E (prunes, water, caster sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon) in a heavy based pot and simmer gently over low heat, stirring often, for about 15 to 20 minutes. |
Prunes collapsed and most of the liquid taken up |
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3 |
Blend |
While still hot, blend the mixture to a smooth purée with a stick blender or food processor. |
Smooth, with no lumps of skin left |
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4 |
Reduce |
Return the purée to the pot and stir over low heat until it thickens into a heavy paste that pulls away from the base of the pot. |
Thick enough to hold a line drawn through it with the spoon |
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5 |
Stir in |
Take the pot off the heat and, if you want the paste to keep longer in the fridge, stir in F (potassium sorbate) until it is completely dissolved. |
Evenly dispersed, no grains left |
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6 |
Cool |
Spread the paste out on a tray and leave it until it is only just warm. |
Around body temperature, not hot |
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7 |
Beat |
Beat G (butter) into the cooled paste a little at a time until it is completely taken up. |
Smooth, glossy and soft enough to pipe |
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8 |
Shape |
Pipe or roll the paste into long ropes about 1.5 cm thick on the lined tray, then refrigerate. |
Firm and easy to handle |
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9 |
Cut |
Cut the chilled ropes into sticks about 4 to 5 cm long. Dip the ends in melted chocolate, or roll them in chopped nuts or sugar if you like. |
Clean cut ends, sticks holding their shape |
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10 |
Store |
Keep the sticks in a sealed container in the refrigerator. |
Best used within two weeks |
Important Notes
This half batch makes about 1.48 kg of prune paste, which is roughly eight 170 g portions, or plenty of petit four sticks for a large platter. The paste can be rolled and cut as sticks, or kept in a piping bag and used as a filling for small pastries and baton style petit fours. The preservative is optional: without it, keep the paste refrigerated in a sealed container and use it within about two weeks, or freeze it. If the paste is too soft to roll after chilling, cook it a little further next time to drive off more moisture; if it is too firm, beat in a spoonful of water before shaping.
Tools & Arrangements
Heavy based saucepan, wooden spoon, stick blender or food processor, tray, baking paper, piping bag with a plain nozzle, palette knife, sharp knife, airtight container
