Name: Ajil-e Moshkel Gosha (Problem Solving Nuts)
Yield: Makes about 7 cups
Ingredients: 1 cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds; 1 cup shelled whole, salted pistachios; 1/2 cup hazelnuts; 1/2 cup cashews; 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds; 1/2 cup Leblebi (dried, salted chickpeas); 1 cup noghl (sugar-coated slivered almonds); 2/3 cup golden raisins; 1/2 cup black raisins or dried mulberries; 10 apricots, chopped or whole; 10 dried figs, halved; 1 mall box of Turkish delight cubes (1/2 inch pieces)

Ajil-e Moshkel Gosha (Problem Solving Nuts)

Photo by James Ransom

Test Kitchen-Approved

Author Notes

The Persian holiday Shab-e-Yalda is meant to safe guard against the longest, darkest night of the year. Spirits stay high when the whole family gathers at the oldest matriarch's house for reading fortunes, dancing, and a candlelit spread of deeply hued pomegranates, watermelon, and the most important inclusion, ajil-e-shireen—"problem solving nuts." —Felicia Campbell