An assortment of your favorite dried fruits, gently macerated overnight in a spiced wine mixture, baked until plump and flavorful, the wine reduced to a ruby syrup. When I brought this compote to Thanksgiving one year, my baby sis gleefully dubbed this “Compost!” Our family has called it so ever since…

Compote Dried Fruit in Spiced Wine

This is a great little sumpin sumpin to have at just about any special winter dinner or holiday. This can be made with just about any dried fruit or mixture or the flavor profile may be carefully orchestrated to just a few complementary fruits.

The cost to make this is dependent on what type of fruit is used and how pricey the wine is. If you’re not wild about the wine, this is good with apple cider as the liquid.

Compote Dried Fruit in Spiced Wine

Since dried fruit is always on sale at a low during the winter holiday season, I take the opportunity to replenish my supply. I’ll make this compote, then, from any fruit I still have in the pantry from the previous year. Even if any of the fruit seems a litter drier than it should be, the wine/sugar maceration plumps them up beautifully.

Sometimes I serve this instead of the ubiquitous cranberry sauce, sometimes in addition. It keeps, tightly covered, in the fridge for a week or two, at least and is also a great made ahead. Any left over is always good, and I often chop this (a bit messy) and use it to make the old classic Thumbprint cookies. (Cranberry sauce works well in those, too.)

Compote Dried Fruit in Spiced Wine

• 5 cups mixed dried fruits (you may wish to slice larger fruits)
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 orange peel

Mix wine and sugar in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and chill overnight. Bake at 375 degrees for an hour, basting now and then until fruit is plumped and softened and wine is reduced to a syrup. (Keep in mind the syrup will thicken more if it’s chilled.) Watch carefully in the last 15 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled on a Holiday buffet table. Leftovers make an interesting addition to vanilla ice-cream.

/recipe]

Let’s talk about how to save money/time on this recipe:

• Use a coupon matching site!
• Follow my 12 Strategies – You’ll see them on the upper drop down menu of every page and how I apply them, below.
• Don’t get discouraged if your prices don’t match mine! Keep shopping at the best prices and your fridge/freezer and pantry will be stocked with sales priced ingredients.
• Read below for additional tips as well as throughout the recipe, for saving time and managing food.

Strategies Applied:

• Dried Fruit: is not always the cheapest thing to buy (if you make your own, it’s a different story) but the fall/winter holidays is a great time to buy with coupons and sales.
• Wine:  I really shop the sales and speak to the employees – I find I can find great wines for a pittance. If you have a wine shop you like, I find you can get mailings or emails for their best sales – often in the fall and spring. You’d be surprised at the bargains you can get and how long you can use a bottle for quick little recipes.