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.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I must have at least 100 cookbooks, countless cooking magazines, clippings from other magazines, newspapers, print outs from web sites and, let’s not forget, tons of recipes that I have saved to my computer as well. But, sometimes I can’t find any better recipes than what is on the box, bag or can of some of my favorite products, for example: Libby’s Pumpkin Pie, Nestlé’s Tollhouse Cookies and the recipe I used today, Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

It’s another dark dreary cold day in January, it’s the middle of winter and here in Ohio, it seems like we’ve had nothing but snow and below average temperatures since early December. I was stuck inside and craving something comforting and sweet…..I wanted to bake something, preferably cookies, and after all the fancier, more time intensive cooking and baking of the holidays, wanted something simple so decided on oatmeal cookies. I pulled out a couple of cookbooks and, even though the recipes looked good, decided to go to the old reliable recipe on the lid of the Quaker Oats.

I know, it’s January and it’s an unwritten rule that we are all supposed to be on diets, trying to shed the weight we gained over the holidays…and I do plan to work on that…..eventually. As I said earlier, it’s been terribly cold and the extra pounds help keep me warm, kind of like insulation, so I really need them right now. Besides, if you don’t count the two sticks of butter, all the sugar and the white flour, these are actually kind of healthy…..oats and raisins are healthy….right?  Hey, it works for me....doesn't have to make sense while in the middle of a cookie craving…..so let’s press on.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Print Recipe

1/2 pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed  brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
Stir in oats and raisins; mix well
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen

The recipe for these cookies is under the lid. I use the old fashioned oats because that's what I usually have on hand...my favorite style to eat. 

 

Here's a hint, you may already know this but in case you don't..... When measuring out dry ingredients, place a piece of parchment or waxed paper under where you are measuring so that any flour, sugar, etc., that happens to fall ont the counter can easily be placed back in the container.

I like to measure and combine my dry ingredients first.

 

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and set aside. I like to use a whisk...it does a nice job of mixing the dry ingredients.

Firmly packed brown sugar.

Beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. When baking, you should always use eggs that are room temperature. I always set mine out, along with my butter, for about 30 minutes or more (depends on how warm/cold your house is) before I need them. If I forget, I place the uncracked eggs in a warm bowl of water for several minutes.

Add combined flour and mix well.

Stir in oats and raisins, mix well.

Dough is now ready to drop onto cookie sheet.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I use a cookie scoop...mines a little larger than one tablespoon. I usually put parchment on my cookie sheets or use a Silpat liner.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave baked cookies on cookie sheet for one minute and then transfer to a rack to cool. Make sure the cookie sheet is completely cool before putting more dough on it...this helps to avoid spreading. I sometimes stick the sheet in the fridge to speed up the cooling.

We have cookies!

Ok...so the whole time I was in the kitchen measuring and mixing ingredients Michael was in the living room watching TV.

This is how he watches TV most of the time, unless he's watching Ohio State play football or basketball. Fortunately, he has a DVR and can play back what he misses...sometimes he has to play it back several times before actually seeing a whole program. :)

Anyway, once he smelled baked cookies he awoke....funny how the smell of food always wakes him up. Of course, he couldn't wait until the cookies cooled....before I knew it, a glass of cold milk made an appearance and I was missing several cookies....I'm lucky I had cookies left to photograph. They were good though! Hope that if you make the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, that you enjoy them as much as we did.

Fruitcake Drops

Around Thanksgiving I learned something disturbing about Michael….he likes Fruitcake and Mincemeat Pie. I can’t believe I’ve known him for over two years and didn’t know this. Did he tell me this and I forgot, or did he omit this information? If I had known these were two of his favorite foods would I have continued to date him…would it have been a deal breaker? Too late to do anything about it now…….Ha, ha, ha. Seriously, I didn’t know that anyone under the age of 80 liked Mincemeat Pie….the last time I even saw one was when I was 10 years old and one mincemeat pie would be made at Thanksgiving and Christmas because my grandmother loved it. As for Fruitcake…well, I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories about that so I don’t need to repeat them here. Enough about Mincemeat pie, I’ll save that for another post. Today it’s all about Fruitcake, or rather Fruitcake Cookies.

Most of the time I try to cook and bake things that I know Michael will like so when he told me that he liked Fruitcake, I had no idea what to do…I’ve never made it before and only tasted it a few times. So I asked around for fruitcake recipes….all I heard was the sound of silence….guess no one else likes Fruitcake either, or maybe they do but just buy it rather than make it. Or maybe no one wants to admit that they like it. I had always heard and read that it took weeks or even months to make a fruitcake…first you bake the cake then you spend the remaining time soaking it in alcohol. If that was the case, that was out…I didn’t have the time and wasn’t sure, since neither of us care for alcohol, that we would like that. Not long after I began my search I received an email newsletter from the King Arthur Flour Company that had a link to a recipe for Fruitcake Drops…they looked interesting, wouldn’t take months to make and I do like making cookies, so I decided to try it.

Their recipe includes a lot of the products that they sell, which I didn’t order; I just used what I could find locally. The next time I make these, I may order some of their products to see it makes any difference in the taste and texture of this cookie. I’ve posted the recipe the way I made it and am also including a link to the original recipe.

Fruitcake Drops
Print Recipe
King Arthur Flour Fruitcake Drops

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup cherry concentrate
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
9 cups chopped dried/candied fruit...I used candied cherries, candied pineapple, dried dates and  dried apricots.

1) Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or better yet, line with parchment) a couple of baking sheets.

2) In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, salt, and baking powder till smooth.

3) Add the eggs, and beat till smooth and creamy.

4) Add the rum and cherry concentrate and mix, scraping the sides of the bowl. The batter will appear curdled; that's OK.

5) Add the spices and the flour. Mix till smooth.

6) Stir in the fruit. The batter will be heavy and sticky; this is best done in a stand mixer, or using a heavy spoon and lots of muscle power.

7) Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, or a spoon, scoop out balls of dough about the size of a ping pong ball. Space them on the baking sheets, leaving about 1" to 1 1/2" between them; they won't spread much.

8) Bake the cookies for 20 to 22 minutes. They'll appear fairly set, but may still be very slightly shiny/wet looking when you remove them from the oven. The bottoms will be lightly browned.

9) Let the cookies cool, then loosen them from the parchment or pan using a spatula.

10) Store at room temperature up to several weeks, in an airtight canister in layers, with parchment or waxed paper between the layers to keep the cookies from sticking to one another. For longer storage, freeze.

Yield: about 5 1/2 dozen cookies.

 Mix butter, brown sugar, salt and baking powder until smooth. How do you like the pretty blue bowl? I had to use our plastc chip bowl because I wasn't sure our large mixing bowl would be large enough.

 Add eggs and beat until smooth and creamy.

  1/4 cup rum...can use bourbon, brandy or apple juice.

 

  1/4 cup cherry concentrate....can use boiled cider, or apple juice concentrate.  

Add liquor and cherry concentrate and mix, scraping sides of the bowl.

 

 Ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.  

 Add the spices and flour to the liquid mixture......

 mix until smooth.

 

Nine cups of candied and dried fruit. I used mostly candied fruit but think next time I'll use a little less candied and more dried....I'm sure it would be a little better for us. To keep the fruit from sticking to your kitchen shears and measuring cup, spray with cooking spray.
 

 Stir in the fruit. The directions said it was best to mix using a stand mixer because the batter would be heavy and sticky. I used a wooden spoon and didn't have any trouble...I've had a more difficult time hand mixing dough for chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies.

I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper, I love parchment paper..... the only thing better than this are my Silpat liners but I left them at home. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon, scoop out dough. Place about 1 inch apart on cookie sheet....I use half sheet baking pans and could get 12 on each sheet.

Bake for 20-22 minutes.

The finished product. By the time I got the cookies baked and cooled I had lost a lot of my natural light so I put a plastic container over in front of the patio door and placed the cookies there. The lighting wasn't the best but was better than it would have been in the kitchen.

The verdict....I liked these cookies and that's saying a lot considering I'm not a fruitcake fan. Michael liked them too....not only did he tell me that he did but proved it by sitting down with a glass of cold milk and eating at least six before they had time to get completely cool. Looks like I'll be making these again.