Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Baking tray
• •Wooden cocktail sticks

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the prunes

   Put the prunes in a small bowl and pour over the brandy. Turn them a few times so every prune gets properly acquainted. Leave them for at least an hour, longer if you can manage it, overnight is better still. They'll swell and darken and start to smell like Christmas before the tree is up.

   Use decent brandy. Not your best, but something you'd happily drink after dinner. The prunes take on whatever you give them, and cheap brandy tastes cheap even when it's hidden inside a piece of fruit.
2. 2

   Stuff the prunes

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Drain the prunes, keeping any remaining brandy for later (a cook's privilege: pour it into whatever you're drinking). Open each prune gently where the stone used to be and press an almond inside. The prune should close around it snugly, with just a glimpse of the nut showing.

3. 3

   Wrap in bacon

   Take a half rasher of bacon and wrap it tightly around each stuffed prune, spiralling it so the whole thing is covered. Secure with a cocktail stick pushed through the centre. The bacon should be taut, not loose, or it won't crisp properly. If you've got a few thyme leaves, tuck one under the bacon before you pin it. A small thing, but worth it.

   Stretch each bacon strip gently with the back of a knife before wrapping. This thins it out, helps it crisp more evenly, and gives you enough length to go around the prune without running short.
4. 4

   Roast until sizzling

   Lay them on a baking tray, seam side down. Grind a little black pepper over the top. No salt. The bacon has enough. Roast for twelve to fifteen minutes, turning once halfway through, until the bacon is golden and tight and the edges are just starting to colour. The kitchen will smell of smoky bacon and warm brandy and something deeply festive. Pull them out when they look like they belong on a plate beside a glass of something good.

5. 5

   Serve fiery hot

   Let them rest for a minute or two on the tray, just long enough that they won't burn anyone's mouth. Then pile them onto a warm plate and carry them straight to whoever is waiting. These are best eaten standing up in the kitchen, or passed around a room with drinks, while they're still hot enough that the prune inside is soft and yielding and the bacon shatters when you bite through it. Don't wait. They won't.

Chef Tips

• •Buy proper prunes, the large, soft sort from Agen if you can find them. They should be sticky and plump without needing much persuasion. The small, hard ones from the baking aisle are a different thing entirely and won't give you what you need here.
• •Smoked streaky bacon, not back. You want thin rashers that will crisp and tighten around the prune in the oven. Back bacon is too thick, too meaty, and won't render properly in the time. Dry-cured if you can get it. The difference is real.
• •Don't skip the soaking. An unsoaked prune is pleasant enough, but a prune that has sat in brandy for a few hours is transformed: boozy, swollen, deeply flavoured. The brandy isn't decoration. It's doing half the work.
• •These are also rather good with a soft, pungent cheese in place of the almond. A nugget of Stilton or Roquefort tucked inside before wrapping. Different devil, same horseback. Your kitchen, your rules.

Advance Preparation

• •The prunes can be soaked in brandy up to two days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. They only improve with time.
• •Assemble the wrapped devils up to six hours before roasting. Lay them on the baking tray, cover with cling film, and refrigerate. Bring them to room temperature for ten minutes before they go into the oven.
• •These do not keep well once cooked. Make them, roast them, eat them. That's the order. Leftovers lose everything that makes them worth the trouble.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 25g)