Laura’s Golden Charoset
2 Asian pears – they’re huge, round, and gold in color and are sometimes wrapped in paper or plastic netting to keep them from getting bruised.
4 dried persimmons – look for these at an Asian market. They’ll be flattened like disks. Don’t dice up the center, which is very tough.
12 dried apricots
1/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup honeyed slivered almonds – you can buy these already honeyed, or use whole honey roasted almonds and chop them up yourself
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tbs apricot juice or nectar – orange juice is OK, too
2 tbs golden honey
1/2 tsp of kosher salt, tiny bit of cayenne pepper (pepper is optional)
Cinnamon and powdered clove to taste
Dice the persimmons and apricots and toss in a bowl with the raisins & apricot juice or nectar. Peel and dice the Asian pears and toss them on top of the dried fruit, then add the nuts and spices. Toss gently and dribble the honey so it gets distributed evenly.
Nom. Seriously nom. Obviously, this is non-alcoholic, but if you want to use wine with it, I’d suggest a traditional sweet wine like a Manishevitz cream cordial.
*I added notes about some ingredients people weren’t familiar with
