Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Fruit Cake Cookies

Fruit Cake cookies in March…seriously? Shouldn’t I be making something more on the lines of a spring or Easter recipe? Wouldn’t Fruit Cake cookies be something that we would be more likely to make around Christmas? After all that is the time of year that we think of fruit cake….if we think of it at all. As a matter of fact, I did receive this recipe in December but never got around to making it. Besides, even though it’s March 30, it’s 31 degrees and snowing so it feels more like Christmas than Easter.

You may remember that last December I discovered that Michael liked fruit cake so I was trying to find some tried and true recipes…with no luck. I did, however, receive two recipes for fruit cake cookies. One I got from the King Arthur Flour Company called Fruitcake Drops, which I did make, and they were delicious and the other from my cousin Jill. This post is about the recipe for Fruit Cake cookies that she sent me.

The recipe Jill sent me had two different lists of ingredients, the recipe as she originally received it and the other with the adjustments she made. Since she is a very good cook and baker, and I trust her opinion, I went with her list. So, since I still had some leftover candied and dried fruit, I decided to make Jill's Fruit Cake Cookies.

Fruit Cake Cookies
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 egg
2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup candied cherries
1 1/2 cups dates and/or figs, chopped
1/2 cup candied pineapple
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

Cream butter and sugar until light.
Add egg and beat until well blended.
Reserving a little of the flour to toss with the fruit, combine remaining flour with the salt and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
Toss fruit with the reserved flour.
Fold in the floured fruit and chopped pecans.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, leaving 1 1/2 to 2 inches between cookies.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-13 minutes, depending on size of cookies
Let sit on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely
Makes from 3-5 dozen fruit cake cookies.
Store in an airtight container.


Butter and sugar

Cream butter and sugar until light.

  Add egg

Beat until well blended

 After removing a little of the flour to toss with the fruit, combine the remaing flour with the salt and baking soda.
Alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk to the dough. 

 Toss fruit with reserved flour. Isn't that pretty?

 Fold nuts and fruit into dough. 

Dough is ready to drop onto greased baking sheets. Or better still, use parchment or Silpat liners.

I 've been using rolls of parchment that I buy at the supermarket, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc., until recently. I was in a GFS store the other day and found a large package of parchment sheets. The sheets are for full sized baking sheets (used in professional kitchens) but I cut them in half for a normal/half sized (what you and I use) baking sheet. So, if there is a GFS near you, I recommend buying your parchment from them..... much easier than dealing with the rolls of parchment.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, leaving 1 1/2 to 2 inches between cookies. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-13 minutes, depending on size of cookies. Let sit on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before removing.

Finish cooling on a wire rack. This is another thing I like about using parchment, all you have to do is lift the parchment from the baking sheet onto the rack...cookies and all.

These cookies were a little different than the ones I made in December…a little more of a cake cookie, not as chewy. Even though different, they were still very good. Michael showed his approval by grabbing a plate of cookies, a glass of cold milk and retiring to the living room…the plate was returned empty.

Which do we like best? It’s hard to say they are both good but different, one had a cake like texture and the other was chewy. I may be having a fruit cake cookie bakeoff in December.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to be honest here, when I saw "fruit cake" cookies I cringed just a little...but after seeing the ingredients and the pics, I'm actually impressed LOL

Cookiebaker said...

DD...I know what you mean, I felt the same way. I don't like fruit cake but do like these cookies and the ones I made in December. I was very surprised!

Unknown said...

I'm with you both on the anti-fruit cake sentiments. I bet the cookie version is a lot better than fruit cake. I wonder if it's the...(this hurts just to say it) alcohol in the cake that turns us off? (now I have to run to my liquor cupboard and apologize profusely)

Cookiebaker said...

Danielle - I don't think it has anything to do with alcohol...I put a little rum inthe Fruit Cake Drops that I made in December and really liked those. I think, at least for me, it's two things:

1) there is no citron(?), I think that's what it's called, in either of my cookie recipes. That is an ingredient in a lot of fruit cakes and I don't like the taste of that.

2) sometime the cake in fruit cake is just a little dry.

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