The holidays are here, and it’s time to start thinking about festive desserts. One way to make any dessert look and feel wintery and merry is to add “frosted fruits.” It’s easy to make your own following these simple directions. You’ll need fruit, egg whites, super fine sugar, and parchment paper, or a cooling rack. You might also like a clean paintbrush or basting brush.
Step 1: Choose your fruit. Any fresh fruit can be frosted. If you’re going to use frosted fruit to garnish a holiday dessert, you might try the following:
- Berries, such as blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries. Fresh strawberries and cherries also work, but they’re hard to find in the wintertime.
- Cranberries
- Grapes, red and green
- Figs
You can also do larger fruits such as apples, oranges, limes, and lemons. Slicing citrus in half prior to sugaring created a beautiful effect. Don’t stop there, though. Leaves look gorgeous frosted. Frosted holly leaves, rosemary sprigs, or bay leaves add elegance to any dessert presentation.
Step 2: Wash and dry your fruit and leaves thoroughly. The fruit needs to be completely dry before sugaring.
Step 3: Prepare your egg whites. You can use the egg whites straight from the egg, but egg whites can be kind of gloopy and hard to spread. Beating them with a whisk just until they’re frothy breaks them up and makes them easier to work with.
Step 4: Cover your items with egg white. You can dip your fruits and leaves directly into the frothed whites, or you can paint them with a brush. Either way, cover them completely.
Step 5: Sprinkle with sugar. Super fine sugar is what you want to use to get a sparkly, frosty effect. Don’t pulse regular granulated sugar in the food processor to achieve super fine sugar. Yes, the particles will be smaller, but they’ll be powdery and won’t have the sparkle you’re looking for. Take the time to find the super-fine sugar in the baking aisle to achieve the best look.
Step 6: Placed sugared items on parchment paper or a cooling rack to dry. They’ll need at least a couple of hours to completely dry and form a crispy, frosty crust.
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Using the Frosted Fruit
Frosting fruit is so simple, you might find yourself adding wintery frost to everything this holiday season. Frosted fruits are edible, but they use uncooked eggs, so be mindful when serving them. Here are some ideas for using your icy creations:
- Garnish a cake. Any cake works, but an Oreo ice cream cake seems perfectly suited for a topping of frosty fruit.
- Create a yule log. Yule logs are very traditional holiday desserts. You can make your own jelly roll cake to serve as the base, but you could also take a shortcut and start with an Oreo ice cream roll. Embellishing the rich, creamy roll with frosted leaves and berries is an easy way to create an elegant holiday dessert.
- Top cupcakes. One or two frosted berries atop a cupcake is pure holiday magic.
- Decorate your table. Frosted fruits make a beautiful centerpiece for your holiday feast.
Add frosted fruits to your repertoire this holiday season.
