Nuttier Than A Fruitcake...Still!

So yes, I used this clever title a year ago here , and even the same old elf in the photo.  But just because I changed my friend's original cookie recipe once and loved it, does not mean I will leave well enough alone.  So you can get the original back last year at the link, but I have updated it once again.  I love the elf, he must be 50 years old at least.  I wish he was a little more flexible (must be male, hahaha!) because I could envision him all over my kitchen this Christmas! But, he does appear in most of the shots, so appease me, please.  It may have been that soaking liquid I nipped on, but I had an exceptional time baking these delicious cookies!

As I stated before, I find that mixed dried fruit available at Christmas a little nasty.  No cherry I have ever seen is that red or, gasp, green.  There are so many chemicals in preserving the other fruits, I just couldn't go there.  And don't even get me started on the whole repackaged bulk stuff.  I know it comes in enormous boxes and a nice employee is scooping the fruit into plastic containers and weighing it.  I have seen them doing this in my little market while shoppers pass by, achooo, just sprinkling their germs about.  I know, I am a little nuts, so fruitcake seems like a good idea.

 Fruitcake Cookies

1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup whiskey
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk
1 # pecans, chopped
1 1/2# mixed dried fruit (I use raisins, dried cherries, cranberries and blueberries, and dates)
1, 11oz bag chocolate chunks
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups whole wheat flour

Soak the dried fruit (not dates) in whiskey for an hour or so, stir them often so they all plump up.  Measure off 1/2 cup of the whiskey for the cookies, set any remaining liquid aside.  In stand mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar.  Add all other ingredients and sip that leftover whiskey while you mix this all up.

Drop by tablespoon on greased sheet and bake at 350º.  Cool on pan and move to rack to cool completely.  Store in covered container.  
Way better than fruitcake, and really, fruitcake-like all the same.  So, what are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake! 

Just a little nip....

Nuttier Than a Fruitcake!

Few things can stir up a controversy faster than that word. As a kid I remember fruitcake appearing right around Thanksgiving. I thought it was disgusting. The colorful cherries, the mere weight of that small cake, and the lack of, well, cake. Over the years I have had many fruitcake experiences, and they just keep getting better.

When I first started my "little part-time" job 14 Christmases ago, we sold Assumption Abbey Fruitcake. I knew it had to be good, it's made by monks, and the webpage shows them injecting alcohol into the cakes. (Could it be Christian Brother's Brandy? I mean, let's keep this in the family right?) The first time I tasted it, I was so pleasantly surprised. It was dark, and nutty, and mildly fruity. The problem is, if you are like me and live among non fruitcake eaters, it can take a year to get through a 2 pound cake.

Last January, I was in Florida visiting the parents, and my dad opens a tin from the fridge and unwraps a little chunk of fruitcake. Hey, what is that amazing aroma? It just so happens that my sister in Iowa sends him a fruitcake every fall. It's actually 3 small loaves and he soaks one in whiskey, one in rum and one in amaretto. Then, he wraps them in old white t-shirt scraps that are soaked in the liquor, (he's 81, give him a little slack on this one, why buy cheesecloth when you have a drawer full of perfectly good, worn, white t-shirts? I personally suggest avoiding the armpits of the shirt). He gives the chunks a little nip now and then, and shaves a thin slice or 2, or 3 for breakfast every day. It is delicious. He would have made a great frontiersman (or pirate) with this innate ability to preserve food with alcohol, plus he's a great shot!

But still, my personal fruitcake dilemma lives on. I have shopped the nicer grocers, but honestly, the fruitcakes are huge. I want a taste or two, not a two month supply. Then my friend Melinda was talking about her friends bugging her to make her fruitcake cookies. Whaaaat? Two things I love wrapped up together! So here we go. Here is the recipe as she gave it to me.

Melinda's Fruitcake Cookies

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter
2 eggs, well beaten
½ cup whiskey
1½ teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1½ Tablespoons milk
1 lb. dark raisins
1lb. pecans, chopped
1 lb. candied cherries, cut in half
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ nutmeg
1½ cups flour

Mix all ingredients. Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

So before I even go on how I made them, let me say this. For a foodie like me, nothing means more than a handwritten recipe. I love this. There is something about that little card that says "Enjoy, Melinda" that I will always cherish. It is a symbol of a friendship, the sharing of a recipe, the note of good tidings. It will find a home in my Christmas file and for years to come I will remember my friend at Williams Sonoma. Okay, I digress. Back to the cookies.

My apologies to Melinda, I never follow a recipe. So, I used Bourbon not Whiskey. I could not bring myself to buy the candied cherries. The ingredient list was long and full of syllables, and they are very colorful. So I substituted ½ lb. of dried cherries and a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips. I thought chocolate would convince the non fruitcake eaters to taste them. I used Monukka raisins, they were dark and smaller than many of the other varieties, and soaked them in the Bourbon for about an hour. I also added ½ teaspoon of salt, I just thought there was a lot of sweet and it was going to need balance, especially since I used unsalted butter. I searched the web, avoiding the crazy million recipe sites and really couldn't find a recipe like this one.

They are dark and not really cookie-like. My 17 yr old who insisted on the chocolate but hates raisins and fruitcake ate 2 right out of the oven. They are delicious. I am going to chill the dough before I bake the last of them, in hopes they will hold more of a shape. Then I will freeze the baked cookies, and plan on sending some to dear old Dad. These are a keeper.

So, what are ya waiting for? Put on the Christmas music and get in there and bake!