Nuttier than a Fruitcake!

I really do understand why people think of fruitcakes as doorstops. This one is no exception. It is not a light cake - literally and calorically. This cake must have weighed 5 pounds, and it cost a small fortune to send one of them halfway across the country. But you know what? This one is worth picking up from in front of the door and actually enjoying. This is by far the BEST fruitcake I have ever come across, with dried fruit, warm holiday spices and the fact it requires being bathed in bourbon anywhere from several days to several weeks before serving. It packs a punch.

My dad loves fruitcake and rations his so that he can enjoy it throughout the year. My mom, who rarely eats it is now eating small pieces of my dad’s rations, and he's getting sad that he's ahead of schedule with his fruitcake consumption. This is going to be a yearly favorite in my family. And I’ll make sure to make my family extra this year so that they don’t have to worry about their rations.

We're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's nearby, and between there and our local grocery store, we can find all the dried fruits for this recipe at a relatively low cost, including the candied ginger, which I've heard can be pretty pricey in other stores.

There are a lot of ingredients to this cake as well, which can make it a little intimidating. But this one is worth it. The ingredients for the most part are interchangeable. Don’t like currants? Try dried pineapple, or any other dried fruit your heart desires. If you can’t find any of the dried fruit listed in the recipe, you can easily adjust the amounts of the ones you do have to compensate for the missing ingredient. Change out the alcohol for vanilla rum, or dark rum. Use walnuts or hazelnuts instead of pecans, or omit the nuts completely, if you prefer.

And the best part is you can make it weeks before the holidays! I baked mine on November 21, over a month before Christmas. My one big loaf and seven mini loaves have just been hanging out in my kitchen, getting basted every few days with brandy since being baked. If you do not have a 10-inch loaf pan, you can make two standard-sizes loaves filled 2/3 of the way full, one 10-inch bundt, or six mini loaves – perfect for gift-giving!

Even the biggest fruitcake haters should give this recipe a try. The cake might change your mind, and if nothing else, the alcohol in this cake will definitely fill your holidays with a little more cheer.

Curious about what I’ve made already? Check out:
White Trash
Quick Mix Spritz Cookies
Peppermint Icicle Candy
Spiced Pecans and Praline Candy
Fresh Orange Spritz Cookies



Free Range Fruitake
From Alton Brown via FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup sun dried cranberries
1/2 cup sun dried blueberries
1/2 cup sun dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum (I used brandy instead)
1 cup sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 cup unfiltered apple juice
4 whole cloves, ground (between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp)
6 allspice berries, ground (about ¾ tsp allspice)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans, broken
Brandy for basting and/or spritzing

Directions
Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum (I used brandy) and macerate overnight, or microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit.

Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes. (Batter can be completed up to this point, then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before completing cake.)

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour (40 minutes for mini loaves). I also erred on the side of caution and used Pam for baking to grease my pans. The recipe doesn’t mention greasing the pans, but I figured it’s better safe than sorry.. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake another 10 minutes, and check again. My large loaf took about an hour and twenty minutes to bake all the way, and I used a wooden skewer to test for doneness, since a toothpick doesn’t reach all the way to the middle of the cake, which is the part that would be undercooked and gummy.

Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack or trivet. Baste or spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan.

When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy. The cake's flavor will enhance considerably over the next two weeks. If you decide to give the cake as a gift, be sure to tell the recipient that they are very lucky indeed.  

Oatmeal Craisin Cookie Bars

Another week of softball and another week of goodies. This week I was not sure what I was going to make. Thankfully one of my coworkers mentioned that he enjoyed oatmeal craisin cookies. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a homemade oatmeal cookie and I realized that I had all the ingredients readily available in my pantry, so I decided that would be what I’d make. Because these treats commute by car, train, and foot to get to the office, I decided to make them into cookie bars, instead of individual cookies. The cookie bars travel well in my 9 x 13 pan carrier, and I don’t have to worry about the cookie crumblies in the bottom of a bag if I used a ziplock instead.

I’m apparently becoming known as “the baker” on my morning train. Every week I board the train with my cupcake carrier or my 9 x 13 pan, and the regulars always ask two questions: 1) What did I make and 2) Did I bring enough to share with everyone. I told them I made Oatmeal Craisin Cookie Bars and before I could say another word, the engineer of the train popped out from behind the door of his engine room, looked back and said “COOKIES?!” It was so sudden and unexpected that it startled us as first. Then we all broke out into laughter - apparently the only other thing that gets a reaction from the conductor besides people running past the train gates are cookies. Yes, cookies will elicit that type of response from just about anyone.

While I did not have enough to share with them this week, I promised them, all of them, that in the near future that I will bring a treat especially for them.

I got this recipe off of AllRecipes.com, and adapted it based on the comments it has received. I’m still somewhat skeptical of the original 10-12 minute baking time in the recipe. I pulled the pan out of the oven at 12 minutes, and let the still-incredibly loose bars cool in the pan. I tried cutting them after cooling, and they were still soft and wet, on the verge of gummy, instead of chewy. I turned my oven back on and put them in for another ten minutes, part of that time while the oven was still preheating.

This time it worked. I was worried they would get too dark, but they finally set up once I added more bake time. The bars will still be quite soft once they are removed from the oven, but they will not be jiggly. And they will set up into wonderfully chewy bars once they get to room temperature.

I didn’t have self-rising flour, so I used an AP flour/baking powder/salt replacement in this recipe.

I’m glad I made something that had oats and craisins and will stand up to the upper-90 degree temperatures we’re expecting tonight for our game.

Oatmeal Craisin Cookie Bars
Adapted From AllRecipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 c AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup craisins
Directions
Put craisins in a bowl with about 1/2 – 3/4 c water. Cook on high for 5 minutes. When finished, let sit for another 10 or so while assembling rest of the bars.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar, until smooth. Beat in the egg then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt: stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the quick oats and raisins. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20-22 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool in pan before cutting into bars.