New Year's Bling!

Festive fruit!  A little "bling bling" for your table!  And no "bling" is not part of my daily vocabulary, but it seems to fit here.  Sparkling cranberries and white chocolate draped grapes.  Serve them together in a pretty bowl.   Or prepare a cheese plate, topping some brie with the cranberries and serving the grapes alongside some cheddar, blue, and crackers.

You'll be the envy of all your mom friends; the one they gossip about the next day because they secretly wish they had your prowess in the kitchen.  No wait, that must have been from some long-lost episode of Desperate Housewives...

Seriously though, these recipes are seriously fun.  I found the sparkling cranberry recipe on the 101 Cookbooks Blog.  I used half white sugar and half dark brown sugar for the syrup.  I only had plain white table sugar on hand to coat, but they turned out well.  Don't be shy with the sugar coating.  I coated them in small batches, in a mesh colander over the kitchen sink.  It took several coatings to get this look, but it's worth it!  Click on this link to make some for yourself...
101 Cookbooks - Sparkling Cranberries

The grapes are from Food and Wine's website.  There is a recipe for an orange curd dipping sauce to go with the grapes, but after the first time I made them, I decided the grapes were just fine on their own and the curd really wasn't worth the effort.  Click on this link for the recipe...
Food and Wine - White Chocolate Coated Grapes

Envy of your next party here people... enjoy!