Father's attempts to produce sweetmeats (8)
I believe the answer is:
pastries
'produce sweetmeats' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'father's attempts' is the wordplay.
'father's' becomes 'pa's' (pa can mean dad or father).
'attempts' becomes 'tries' ('try' can be a synonym of 'attempt').
'pas'+'tries'='PASTRIES'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for pastries that I've seen is " Bakery items".)