Getting Ready for the Holidays
By Cynthia Bowan
Return to Index
November. Leaves turning, darkness seems to come earlier, weather most certainly is worse and so one looks for things to brighten the day.
The coming holidays can be seen as giving one something to look forward to with pleasure or less than pleasure. The mail is filled with catalogs of every description, and holiday editions of various magazines start to appear. You spend precious time making lists and checking them three or four times.
Well, I like to stop, and just sit in my Dad's old recliner with a cup of coffee or peppermint tea, and go through the catalog pages and magazines, see what the culinary powers-that-be declare to be the in thing for this holiday season, check out recipes, crafts and decorations.
The desserts always catch my eye. They are more spectacular at the holidays than any other time of year. Clouds of whipped cream, white or dark chocolate, nuts of every type - a wonderful excess we rarely accept the rest of the time. Glorious cakes, pies, tarts and torts, cookies and fruitcakes fill the pages.
Fruitcakes? Oh, c'mon...one must be joking, right?
As author and humorist Dave Barry once said, "Fruitcakes make ideal gifts because the Postal Service has been unable to find a way to damage them." Which reminds me of my late Aunt Vivian...but I'll share that later...
Fruitcakes....baked in large tube pans, loaf pans or tassie pans...gold raisins vs. dark raisins...nuts or no nuts, dried fruit or candied fruit...it almost causes an overload in one's neural processing. I fade out for a few minutes....
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say that there is no such thing as fruitcake. Papa says, "If you see it in print, it is so."
Please tell me the truth, is fruit cake real?
Signed, Virginia
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe, except they see...
Yes, Virginia, there is fruitcake! It exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, except there are only 100 of them in the world. The fruitcakes get re-wrapped every year and shuffled around from store to store.
Not believe in fruitcake?! You might as well not believe in gingerbread men, sugar cookies or chocolate chips!
Just because you can't see it or hold it or your family doesn't have one, doesn't mean that fruitcake doesn't exist!
No fruitcake! A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10,000 years from now, fruitcake - the same 100 fruitcakes - will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
(The preceding down with deep apologies to the editor, Francis P. Church, who answered the real letter from Virginia O'Hanlon...)
Fruitcake. Perhaps the most misunderstood, maligned, made-fun-of Christmas tradition around. Fruitcake has even been voted the gift one least likes to receive for a holiday.
While it is true that one seems to see the same old fruitcakes, holiday season after holiday season, on grocery store shelves, we know in reality that some of us truly do love fruitcake. Oh, we may moan about the citron, or we state firmly that we don't like dark raisins or some other such thing.
But fruitcake grows on us through the years and we (well, most of us <G>) learn to like it as we grow up and grow older, much like dark chocolate. How many of us really liked to eat dark chocolate as a child, much less enjoy it?
My Aunt Vivian was what people politely call "a character". She was the wild one of the six Mitchell girls and two Mitchell boys...but, oh, how this woman could cook! She would start a couple months before Christmas to make her famous fruitcake. Actually, truth be known, that was the cake for the next year or the one after it.
You see, she believed in aging a fruitcake. Part of the aging process was to remove the wrappings occasionally, and pour a bit of liquor over it, rewrap and seal it up. She'd put it on a shelf in her pantry, where it stayed until something reminded her and she would go through the ritual again.
One year, just before she moved back to South Carolina after years in San Francisco, she decided to send such a gift to my Dad. Momma swore that the mailman was deliriously happy as he handed her the heavy package. You could smell it through the packing, through the foil and layers of cloth and stuff and through the very box itself. The mailman seemed to hang around a few minutes longer than necessary, as though hoping to get a piece or at least, another inhale.
Aging does help, but not quite at Viv's level. I do remember that Momma also said Dad enjoyed the fruitcake, but in small doses!
Speaking of the disdain that fruitcakes are held in, I think it was the last holiday season that FoodTV had a special on where several of the on-air chefs, from Sara Moulton to Emeril, were getting together to prepare a holiday meal for everyone to share.
Mario Batali was going to be unable to participate, so there he was in his kitchen, looking around for something to send. Aha! A tin containing a fruitcake...he handed it over to Alton Brown (of Good Eats fame!) to deliver to Emeril et al. Only problem was, the fruitcake had been made by and given to Mario by - yes, you guessed it, Alton!!!
Well, I guess I am adult enough now to enjoy fruitcakes. And I really do, even though I don't like citron myself. So through the years, I have made my own fruitcakes, thus controlling the ingredients, and assuring myself that the current season's fruitcake would be eaten and enjoyed, and not end up on a pantry shelf...
With all that in mind, I offer the following different fruitcake recipes for you to Enjoy! Make them now, store them for a short time, and Enjoy! the fruits of your labor during the holidays. I am not sharing my favorite recipe here - my Golden Fruitcake. If you would like that recipe, you can find it in the December 2000 column here on Chef2Chef.
Above all, Enjoy! your family and friends, not just during the holidays, but throughout the year.
CYH - consider yourself hugged.
Dried Cranberry Fruitcake
For the cake:
3 oranges
1 c. dried cranberries
3/4 c. golden raisins
1/2 c. currants
1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped
2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. butter, softened
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. chopped walnuts
For the icing:
10 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 T. powdered sugar
dried fruit
Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 10" tube pan. Grate 2 T. zest from oranges. Squeeze oranges to make 1 c. juice. Set aside.
In medium saucepan, combine dried fruits and 2/3 c. orange juice. Bring to a boil, reduce
heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain well, set aside.
In large mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a
time, then add orange zest and vanilla, beat well. Alternately add combined dry
ingredients and buttermilk to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with the flour
mixture. Stir in walnuts and fruit.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in a 325F. oven about 1 hr. 15 minutes or until golden
brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove to wire rack, cool completely.
For icing, beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add 1/3 c. orange juice, beat will. Spread icing on cake, garnish with dried fruit.
Cake can be made 5 days ahead; cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature 30
minutes before serving. To freeze, wrap tightly in freezer wrap, heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic freezer-safe bags. Freeze up to 2 months. Bring to room temperature 45 min.
before serving.
Fresh Cranberry Fruitcake
6 c. coarsely chopped cranberries
6 c. coarsely chopped filberts or pecans
32 oz. chopped pitted dates
4 c. walnut halves
3 c. sugar
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground mace
12 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sweet red wine
In large Dutch oven or very large bowl or container, combine fruit and nuts; set aside. Stir together dry ingredients; set aside. Beat eggs and vanilla in large bowl until foamy.
Add dry ingredients to eggs; mix well. Pour over fruit mixture, stirring to mix well. Turn into four greased and brown paper-lined 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Cover with foil and bake at 300F., two pans to a shelf, for 20 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for one hour and 40-45 minutes. Switch pans about halfway through baking. Cool in pans.
Remove from pans and wrap each in wine-moistened cheesecloth. Wrap each entire cloth-covered loaf in foil. Store at least a week in a cool place. Do NOT remoisten.
Bourbon Fruitcake Cookies
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups flour, divided
1/2 cup baking soda
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 cup bourbon
1 cup raisins, seedless
1 pound chopped pecans
1 pound candied pineapple, diced
4 ounces candied cherries, chopped
1 package (8 ounces) dates, chopped
Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Combine mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, and 2 cups of the flour in a bowl, stirring well. Combine soda and buttermilk in a small bowl, stirring well.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, blending well after each addition. Add buttermilk mixture and bourbon, beating well. Combine fruit and nuts in a large bowl; toss with remaining 1 cup flour. Add fruit and nuts to the batter; stir until well blended.
Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container with an apple half to keep moist.
Fruitcake Biscotti
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest, grated
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. slivered almonds
3/4 c. dried cranberries
3/4 c. dried cherries or chopped dried apricots
Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and beat well after each
addition. Add zest and flavorings and mix well.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture
and mix just to moisten dry ingredients.
Turn dough onto counter and knead in almonds, dried fruits and rind. Divide
dough in half.
Shape each portion into a 14 x 2 inch log on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
(parchment paper works well and I use saran wrap to form rolls to keep hands
tidy!) Flatten logs slightly.
Bake at 325F for 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool on cookie sheet for 5
minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cut logs into slices. Place slices on ungreased cookie
sheet. Bake 325F for 10 minutes; turn cookies over and bake 10 additional
minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Note: You can also add dates and or golden raisins instead of both red fruits, to add a nice color.
Holiday Fruitcake
Fruitcake:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 cup dried fruit
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
lemon juice
nuts
1 gallon whiskey
Sample the whiskey to check for quality.
Take a large bowl. Check the whiskey again to be sure that it is of the highest quality. Pour 1 level cup and drink. Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer; beat 1 cup butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and beat again. Make sure the whiskey is still okay. Cry another cup.
Turn off the mixer. Break two legs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift 2 cups of salt. Or something. Who cares. Check the whiskey.
Now sift lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.
Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.
Don' t forget to beat off the turner.
Throw the bowl out the window.
Check the whiskey again. Go to bed.
Who the heck likes fruitcake anyway?
By Cynthia Bowan
Return to Index
Holiday Fruitcake | Fruitcake Biscotti | Bourbon Fruitcake Cookies
Fresh Cranberry Fruitcake | Dried Cranberry Fruitcake
