Capirotada Mexicana Recipe

I love to try new recipes, especially for the holidays, and I am seldom daunted by the complexity of some. However, I am kind of stumped by the recipe Joseph put up in the files, but I want to try it. It sounds so fancy, what with the meringue topping, and I love desserts with nuts. (By the way, the recipe lists "dos huevos", but in the directions, they only used the whites to make a meringue).

Alicia, maybe you can help me. I was able to translate most of the ingredients using my Spanish-English dictionary, but some things were not listed there, or I don't know where to obtain some ingredients.

Grajeas -- "small sugar plums". Where would I get these? When I lived in Santa Clara Valley, we had sugar plum trees in the yard, dark with yellow flesh, the kind they make prunes from, I guess. Could I substitute dried prunes?

Biznagas ---"candied cactus". Do most Mexican import stores have this?

Molde refractario -- "refractory". Does this simply mean "heat-resistant"?

Batir las claras a punto de turron --- "beat the whites to the point of nougat consistency". Does this just mean to beat the egg whites until they are stiff?

My mother made a capirotada very similar to this; however, she didn't use the peanuts, meringue, candied cactus, grated coconut or sugar plums.

Emilie Garcia
Port Orchard, WA --