I grew up loving fruitcake and i could never figure out why people didn’t like it..To me, there was nothing more delicious than a piece of the moist and chewy cake, slathered with cream cheese or butter and  resting next to a cup of hot chocolate.  Mmmmm – Christmas!

Until..until the fateful day when I tasted someone ELSE’S fruitcake. EWWWW! I finally understood the jokes..the grimaces..the gagging.

I used to sell this cake on ebay for $30 …and that was ten years ago! Noone that has tasted this cake doesn’t like it…It is moist..and more chewy than cakey…there are no raisins in it and no “junk” candied fruit…It is sweet, intense and just good.

If you are looking for the best fruitcake recipe ever I will submit that it is right here…from the family files…I have NO clue where it began, or how old it is. I just know that you have to try this because you will be addicted. If you really want to be treated to the best taste experience anywhere go on over to Kettle and Cup and enter for the weekly coffee giveaway…that way you will have coffee to go with it!

I am still without the ability to upload pictures…hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Best Ever Fruitcake 

1 lb pecans

1 lb dates-pitted and chopped

1/2 lb candied cherries  (red and geen)

1/2 lb candied pineapple (green and yellow)
3/4 c sugar

3/4 c flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 250 degrees (that is not a typo-TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY degrees)  Place a pan with boiling water in the oven to create steam. Fill the pan as needed during baking.
Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and line with wax paper. spray wax paper with cooking spray.

Chop fruit and nuts.

Sift dry ingredients over fruit and nuts and mix in.

Beat eggs until light, add vanilla and pour over fruit, mixing well. Spoon into prepared pan, pressing down gently to remove large air bubbles and spaces. Bake at 250 for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Let cool.

1 loaf

Post from: Baking Delights

By now you have several dozen cookies in the freezer and you are good to go, right? This is about the time I switch to quick breads. They also freeze really well and make really good gifts when wrapped in clear wrap and tied with raffia, or what ever imaginative way you want to do it!

You can make these loaves full sized or make them in the small loaf pans. Often I will put two or three loaves of different types in a basket and add some homemade lemon curd or pumpkin spice butter.

This cranberry bread recipe is one that Marc’s mom used to make. It is moist and delicious, for breakfast or brunch or even snacks. I like it with orange curd spread on it and a dusting of finely chopped dark chocolate.

Cranberry Bread

1 orange – use both the juice and the rind
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and flour one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Grate the rind of the orange. Squeeze the juice into a measuring cup, and add the rind and enough hot water to equal 3/4 cup.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium-size mixing bowl.

Add the juice with water and rind, the butter, and egg to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Stir in the cranberries and nuts.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Post from: Baking Delights

Remember the Chocolate Whoopie Pies I posted the recipe for last summer? Well these are a more festive version made with pumpkin.
I can’t imagine the Holidays without the smells of pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and other spices. It just seems like those scents and flavors hold the key to unlock the Christmas Spirit in the Scroogiest of Scrooges. The pumpkin cookie is spicy and tender and the filling is creamy and resplendent with minced candied ginger. I suggest sprinkling the dough with green and red sprinkles before putting in the oven, or totally gilding the lily and topping the cooled cookie with melted white chocolate and THEN sprinkling with the Christmas sprinkles, or even whote edible glitter.. Either way these are a delicious addition to a cookie tray.
To make this ahead you can do one of two things:
1. Drop the cookies by tablespoonfuls on the cookie sheet and set in the freezer to flash freeze. When frozen store in a ziploc in the freezer. Bake according to directions allowing an extra minute or so to get done.
2. Bake the cookies and freeze them without filling. Fill when needed. This can make it a little easier to fill them.
How ever you decide to do it be sure try them. Different and delicious!

3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp.cinnamon
1 tsp.ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups solid pack pumpkin or fresh pumpkin cooked, sieved and drained well.
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, cream together sugar, oil, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well.Drop by rounded tablespoons full onto ungreased non-stick cookie sheets or silpat coated sheets, and bake 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until the centers of the cookies spring back when lightly pressed. Cool thoroughly before filling.

Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 c confectioners
pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbs minced candied ginger (more or less to taste)
Beat the butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until fluffy.
Spread filling on one cookie, top with another one.
Makes about 18-20

Post from: Baking Delights

As you can see, we’re still in catch-up mode over here. These are no-bake cookies, so I hope you don’t mind that you’re seeing it on this blog, but I find that an assortment of baked and non-baked goodies in a gift box will make the pickiest person happy, they’re not even going to ask which ones you labored over and which ones were no-brainers. This is one of the no-brainers, but it’s so pretty and yummy, and depending on what you put in it, good for you too! A basic recipe can be found here. We vary ours depending on what we’ve got in the pantry. This one had cherries, cranberries, raisins, prunes, almonds and I don’t remember what else. Great gift for the Nutcracker fan on your list. Why don’t you pair it with a copy of this:

Whoops, found the recipe we used, except we substituted almonds for the walnuts: Sugarplums

Post from: Baking Delights

Springerle mold (nativity scene) and recipe from House on the Hill. Yena’s was an old Valentine’s cookie stamp from a kids’ baking set we got her big sis years ago, combined with a fluted cookie cutter.

I’ve got pics of painted ones too but they’ll have to wait ’til next week. My eyelids are getting heavier by the minute. There’s a longer story too but it will have to wait.

Post from: Baking Delights