The Gift of a Fruitcake

I started this blog several years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. A modern day recipe box.  I was so happy to receive a real recipe card from my Aunt Jane, when I asked for her fruitcake recipe.  This, to me, is a gift.  If you have never had a real fruitcake, they can be heavenly. This recipe makes more of a nut cake, with some fruit mixed in.

Maddie, who calls my aunt, Aunt Grandma, decided we had to make it right away. So, of course we did.

Before you start on this venture, a few disclosures.  This is not an inexpensive recipe.  The ingredients for 8 small cakes was about $50. You really need to make it around Christmastime, because it isn't as easy to find the candied fruit other times of the year, and finally, the cakes need to "cure" for two weeks.  If you're still up to the challenge, read on!

Christmas Fruitcake (make at least 2 weeks in advance)

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 lb candied pineapple cut into chunks (in my case, this was equal to 2 containers)
1 lb red candied cherries, halved (I used 1/2 red and 1/2 green, and this was equal to 1 container of each)
1 1/2 lbs pitted dates, halved (this was equal to 3 bags of whole dates - don't get chopped dates)

4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

8 cups (2 lbs) pecans

1/4 cup light corn syrup

Grease 2-9" tube pans, or 6-8 mini loaf pans (I used 8). Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a very large bowl. Mix dates, pineapple and cherries (in another bowl).

Here is Maddie tasting a plain candied cherry. She clearly doesn't like it. 

Add (fruit) to flour mixture until fruit is well coated (in flour).

Beat eggs and sugar until frothy.  Add to fruit mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed.  Add nuts and continue mixing. Divide mixture into pans.  Press down firmly to fill all spaces.

Bake at 275 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  (I move the cakes at 30 minutes and at 1hour to make sure they are evenly cooked and not only one cake hits the "hot spot").

Remove and cool 5 minutes on racks.  Remove cakes from pans. Brush with corn syrup ( I added Bourbon to a cake or two - hehe!)  seal in foil.  In one week, brush again with corn syrup.  And in 2weeks, start the giving!   I will post pictures in 2 weeks!

And, finally, I have to share my favorite Aunt and Christmas picture.  I call this one "creepy Santa". I think Santa was a little too happy to have a cute 13 year old on his lap. 

Love and Empanadas

Yesterday was such an interesting day.  I so much love for my Ninjas on reddit /r/food.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to take a peek.  It was my little taste of going viral.

Speaking of love, my sweetheart and I flew to Dallas this weekend, for a little getaway.   And, in our usual style, two minutes after we landed, we headed over to a little gem called Empa Mundo, in a small strip mall in Irving. 

Their empanadas were delicious!  They had beef brisket, chicken, chorizo, ham, corn, and even guava and cheese.  After they are freshly fried, they place them in little plastic bags, labeled with the type of empenadas, with a criollo (spiced oil) and hot sauce. The bags and labels were perfect, and showed that they have pride in their work.  Tasting them proved that they should.

The owner and her husband are absolutely lovely.  We hugged when we left and we promised to be back before we depart.  If we call ahead of time (which we will) they will freeze some so we can take them with us.  We even got some love at the little empanaderia (I totally just made that word up).   Faboosh!

Since we were in Dallas (the city of Love Field, btw) we had to stop at the Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll. After that visit I am convinced that there was more than one gunman. My husband took a stroll while I took some pictures.  Something looks a bit strange in those bushes...

How do you fight kid's cancer? Ninjabread men, of course.

Ok. Full disclosure.  Camera angles were fully and completely manipulated for this post. I am good at many things, patience in baking and fine detail are not on the list.  Making gingerbread, or in this case "Ninjabread," men is a multi-day process.  But when I agreed to make cookies for the charity, Cookies for Kids Cancer, I knew these would be perfect.  So, after work, I proceeded to make the gingerbread.

I modified a recipe from Epicurious (Gingerbread Skeletons) by adding a bit more spice.  The recipe is as follows

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup water

2 1/2 cups flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Cream the butter and sugar, using a hand or free standing mixer, if available.  Add molasses and water and mix fully. In another bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Slowly add the flour into the butter/sugar/molasses mixture.  At the end, the dough will be sticky. Put in the refrigerator to cool overnight. 

The next day, get out your rolling pin and some flour.  With a spoon (I used a large wooden spoon), take a ball of dough. I use between a baseball and softball sized chunk.  Lightly flour the outside, and roll out. It shouldn't stick, but add a bit of flour to the dough and your pin if it does.  I roll out to a pretty thick slab - about 1/3 inch (thicker cookies seem to be easier to decorate).  

I bake 6 at a time, on parchment paper, for approximately 10-12 minutes at 375. The cookies don't spread much.

I doubled the recipe for this batch and it made a lot of cookies.  About 5 dozen good sized gingerbread men. 

Let these cool overnight.  See I told you this was a multi-day process. 

Then it's time to frost.  Instead of whipping real egg whitI use powdered merangue. You can buy this at a craft store, like Michaels.  

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons merangue powder

Up to 1/4 cup water. 

Mix, but slooooowwwwwllllyyyy add the water. It can be deceptive and it is better to have a little bit thicker consistency.  I find that the best consistency is kind of like tacky glue. Not Elmer's, though. That is a bit too runny.  Add some food coloring and away you go. 

I started with the face and hands.  Then did each group one color at a time. 

I let these dry overnight (2 overnights are even better).  Then I finish them off by adding eyes, sashes, and details with food color pens (which I also found at Michaels). 

Like I said, this was a labor of love. I started on Monday, and finished Friday morning with a few details and wrapping them up.  I had a bit of a mess in the kitchen for a few days. But, it is all for a good cause. Check them out. http://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org

Irreverent tea towels

I just loved these so much.  Saw them at a booth in the Southern Christmas show. The designer is Primitives by Kathy and you can check out her other things here...

Primitives by Kathy

We used this kitchen towel for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin spice has jumped the shark...almost

I'm kind of over the pumpkin spice thing.  It really started to be too much when I saw this...

But no matter the trend of the moment, I still love these from Trader Joe's.

(Sorry for the poor quality - I was apparently very excited!)

I buy them every year and the whole family loves them. Leave them out overnight to rise, bake them while you're getting ready and voila - delicious, warm croissants. As close to what I used to get in Brussels that I've seen in the States.

Just promise me that you won't eat them wearing a chevron scarf, Ugg boots. Listening to John Mayer.

Thanksgiving leftovers = Gnocchi

Gnocchi is actually quite an easy recipe, and perfect when you have leftovers. I made some with regular mash and then some with mashed sweet potatoes. Both are light and delicious.

Technique, including a light hand, is the most critical component.

1cup plus 1/4 -1/2 cup flour and some additional for dusting.
2 cups mashed potatoes (regular or sweet)
2 teaspoons salt
1egg

Pour 1cup flour into a bowl or on the counter. Put the potato on top. Make a "volcano" (also called a well) and sprinkle 1/4 (for dry potatoes) to 1/2 cup (for moister) flour on top. Add a beaten egg in the well. Mix all together.  I find the best way is to fold the bottom of flour (folding from the outside-in) over the top and continue this until everything is mixed. The dough will be sticky. Cover the dough with flour.

Sprinkle a generous layer of flour on a baking sheet.  (Make sure that the sheet will fit in the freezer). Pinch off approximately 1/4 of the dough.  Cover in flour and roll, with your hands, on a well floured surface, a log, approximately 1 inch in diameter.  With a sharp knife, cut the log into small, bite-sized pieces.

Then, you start to roll.  Each piece should be floured, then pressed against a fork, lengthwise, and then rolled down the fork.  A bit like a snail's shell. Once you get the hang of it, no problem, but until then, you may be frustrated. Keep each piece floured, and the colder the dough, the less likely it will stick to the fork.

And, if you get pissed off by this mess, dip your fork into the flour, press it down the middle and be done with it.  Still tastes good. Like this...

Once you have finished, lay them onto the floured baking sheet, and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to a container until ready to use. 

When you are ready to eat, boil salted water. With a rapid boil, place the frozen gnocchi into the water and let them rise to the top. 

At this point, you can be done and cover with sauce (a nice meat sauce can be enough), or you can sautée in a little browned butter. I love this second technique for the sweet potato -especially if you add a little sage and prosciutto.   Mmmmmm.