Sun dried red peppers are somewhat of a local countryside embellishment in the autumn, hanging from porches, doors and walls, pretty much anyplace where the red gorgeous delicacy can be reached by the sun and warm breeze. If you happen to travel trough Serbia in late summer, early autumn, all the way from North to South you’ll see these red pepper ornaments everywhere. And I just adore them! To me, this pointy, meaty, juicy and fragrant pepper is one of the most delicious gifts the nature could possibly invent.

Sun dried red peppers are sweet, smokey and pungent in taste. They require little to no preparation before cooking, just to be briefly covered in hot water in order to soften. Most often sun dried peppers are then stuffed, with rice, white beans, eggs and cheese, cabbage or potatoes and seared in an oven. Or added to casseroles and warm winter dishes as a unique flavour enhancing spice. And in the Southern parts of the country where the glorious red pepper grows in such an abundance that the local cuisine is pretty much unimaginable without it, it is prepared and enjoyed as a dessert too, stuffed with walnuts and honey, which was an inspiration for this recipe.

When I heard about this sweet sun dried pepper combo I got immediately dazzled just by a sheer image of the dish in my head. My train of thought led me to my plum jam batch I’d previously made adding a touch of dried chilies and chocolate, and this is how this recipe for delicious sweet sun dried red peppers stuffed with plums, chocolate and walnuts was born. So let’s go make it!

What you’ll need for about 6 – 8 servings:

• 8 sun dried sweet red peppers
• about 200g of #sugarfree homemade or extra plum jam
• 50g of fine dark chocolate
• 150g walnuts
• a pinch of nutmeg
• raw honey organic

Let’s stuff the peppers

Rinse the peppers under water, then place in a bowl and fully cover in hot water until soften. Then rinse again and pat dry with a towel.

Turn the oven to 180C.

To make the filling, simply mix the plum jam, chopped chocolate, 100g chopped walnuts and nutmeg, then stuff the peppers and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts, drizzle with a spoon or two of honey and just sear in the oven until the inside starts melting.

Hope you enjoy this gorgeous gooey dessert!