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This recipe appears on the blog Recipes from a Normal Mum, the book of which is Recipes from a Normal Mum,
Rysschews of Fruit
Makes 9
Ingredients:
For the dough:
• pinch saffron, ground
• 90mls cold water
• 180g plain flour
• 50g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 20mls vegetable oil (or other oil you have to hand)
For the filling:
• 75g chopped dried figs (use scissors to chop)
• 75g chopped dried dates (use scissors to chop)
• 25g pine nuts
• 20g currants/sultanas
• 2 cloves, ground
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• pinch saffron, ground
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 8 and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment. Start by infusing the saffron in the cold water (for the pastry) and setting it aside for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile measure out the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl, mix and set aside.
Mix together all of the filling ingredients and divide into 9 roughly equal amounts and set aside. Make the pastry by adding the water (including saffron bits) to the dry ingredients until it just forms a soft dough, using your hand to pull it together - you will likely not need all the water, though it depends on the brand of flour you use - some flours absorb water more than others. Roll the dough into a sausage, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1 hour. The chilling makes it much easier to handle, you can miss it out if you wish, but it's a sticky dough.
Divide the dough sausage into thirds, then cut each third into 3 equal pieces. You should have 9 pieces of dough all of the same size. Roll each piece into a ball, squash the dough to flatten it and then place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Fold the dough edges into the centre to completely cover the filling and pinch together, then roll between your palms to ensure the fruit parcel is a sphere shape. Repeat until all the dough is used up. (If the dough is very hard for you to handle then oil your hands first).
Now strictly these should be deep fried but as I am making these for more modern tastes and calorie controlled diets I suggest you place them on your lined baking sheet, brush liberally with oil and bake for 25 minutes until lightly browned. You can of course deep fry them in oil if you feel medievally inclined.
The original recipe says to eat these warm, but I prefer them cold with port and cheese.