[Sca-cooks] Sugarplums or Hais?

[Kingstaste]

I just caught the last few minutes of Alton Brown's new Christmas show,
featuring roasted duck, stuffing, and sugarplums.  (One of my students is
Tiny Tim).  Watching the recipe he makes for SugarPlums, I am struck at just
how similar they are to Hais.  He uses almonds, prunes, apricots and dates
in a food processor, then mixes that with honey, fine sugar, spices and
rolls the whole thing up into balls, then rolls in more sugar.  When I make
Hais, I use almonds and pistachios, dates and sugar, sometimes with other
spices and sometimes not.  They are a bit hit at Pennsic.  Are we looking at
this form of sugar plums being a direct descendant of the Middle Eastern
hais balls?

 

Christianna