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Marie's Dragon Scales

Dreiburgen Yule 2005

To make Dragon Scales, have the young virgins go out to Dragon Mountain in the springtime and gather up the scales from the dragons there as they shed them. If you're fresh out of young virgins, or want scales out of season, take dried Turkish apricots (the whole ones).

Layer them in a French canning jar (the type with the snap lid -- I have three quart sized ones) of about 1-1½ inches of apricots to several whole cloves and some lightly broken up cinnamon stick...about ½-1 inch long piece. Continue these layers until the jar is full, or nearly full...the apricots absorb the liquid and swell. Fill the jar with brandy, close it up and stick it in the back of the cupboard for a while. I have found it takes at least a week, a month or more is better.

To prepare the scales, drain off the brandy into a large measuring cup and add enough more brandy to make 3 cups. Pour into a large pot (I use my 4 quart Revereware) and add 3 cups of sugar. Set aside long enough to pick all the "wood" out of the apricots because you won't have time to do it later. Once that's done, start stirring the brandy-sugar mix over a medium-high fire. You have to stir constantly at this point because bad things will happen if you don't. Bring the mixture to the sheeting stage...I used my candy thermometer this last time and went up to about 220 degrees. Be careful of the fumes, they are about 200 proof.

When the syrup has reached this point, dump in the apricots and stir until it all comes up to a boil again. Lower the fire a little and let them simmer together at least ½ hour, 1 hour is better. Stir occasionally. When done, lift out the apricots with a slotted spoon so they drain back off into the pan (and saving more of the syrup) and using tongs, set them on a wire rack that's either over wax paper or on a cookie sheet -- they're messy. Let them sit at least overnight to cool and the coating to thicken up more. Drain off the syrup into a scalded jar that has a good lid. Refrigerate. This stuff elevates waffles to a religious experience, brand of religion does not matter. Since it gets pretty thick in the refrigerator, warm the syrup up before serving...I nuke mine, works great.

This was created by a friend of mine out in Atenveldt. He and I experimented with the original recipe for about a year before coming up with this version. The nice thing is that you can give these to children, the ethanol is long gone by the time it's served.

Marie de Womwell has granted permission for this article to appear on the Dreiburgen web site, 3 Oct 2006.

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