Holiday Fruitcake Cookies Food

FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, dredge candied fruit and raisins in 1 cup flour.
• In a large bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in bourbon and milk. Mix in remaining flour and spices. Stir in fruit and nuts. Refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Drop dough by teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool on wire racks.

FRUITCAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients., Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container. (Cookies are best after a few days.)

FRUITCAKE COOKIES (CHRISTMAS LIZZIES)

Steps:

• Set the butter or margarine out to soften.
• Slice the candied cherries in half and dice the candied pineapple. Place these along with the glazed fruit mix, which should already be diced, in a bowl.
• Soak the raisins in the cherry brandy until plump, at least an hour or up to overnight.
• Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and baking soda to the flour and sift.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
• Set a stand mixer to medium speed.
• Place the softened butter in the mixing bowl and cream until fluffy.
• Once the butter is fluffy, gradually add the brown sugar until completely blended.
• Add the eggs one at a time, completely blending each egg before adding the next.
• When the eggs are completely blended, add the sifted flour and spices slowly to the butter, eggs and sugar mix. Completely blend each addition before adding the next.
• Turn off the mixer, clean off the blade. The next steps will be mixed by hand.
• Combine the soaked raisins, pecans and cut candied fruit in a bowl and mix together completely.
• In batches, add some of the raisin, nut and fruit mixture to the batter and mix with a spatula by hand until all the ingredients are completely blended before adding more.
• Continue until all the fruit and nut mixture is thoroughly combined with the batter.
• Using a kitchen teaspoon, drop the cookie batter onto the cookie sheets, keeping each cookie about 1 inch apart. The cookies should be approximately 1 inch in diameter.
• Bake in a moderate oven (325 degrees) for 10 to 15 minutes, until browned on top.
• Remove the baking sheets from the oven and cool the cookies for five minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow to completely cool for at least 3 hours. Don't rush the cooling rack time of the cookie bottoms will be soggy and the cookies will be sticky.
• Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container.
• Makes about 10 dozen cookies.

HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE BARS

Steps:

• Beat eggs with a mixer until they are golden yellow and doubled in volume - 2 or 3 minutes.
• Add in 1 cup sifted powdered sugar and vanilla.
• Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Take 2 tablespoons of flour mixture and stir in with candied fruit, nuts and currants, to keep fruit from clumping in the batter.
• Add the rest of the flour mix to the eggs and sugar.
• Fold fruit and nuts into batter.
• Spoon batter into a well greased 11" by 7" pan.
• Some years I use parchment paper instead.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
• Mix together rum and second cup of powdered sugar to make a glaze.
• Spread the icing onto the bars about 5 minutes after they've come out of the oven.
• Let bars cool and cut into bars.

QUICK FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in the pecans, dates and fruit. , Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet and line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Butter parchment. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, and baking powder.
• Pulse almond paste in a food processor until crumbly; add sugar and pulse just to combine. Transfer mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add butter and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in 2 tablespoons kirsch. Add flour mixture, beating on low speed, until fully combined. Beat in fruit.
• Scrape batter into prepared sheet, smoothing top with an off-set spatula. Bake until pale golden, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons kirsch. Transfer sheet to a wire rack and let cool 45 minutes. Use parchment overhang to lift out of pan; let cool completely on rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours and preferably overnight. Using a sharp knife, trim edges and cut into 1 1/4-inch squares.
• Working in batches and keeping the rest in the refrigerator, place one cookie on a fork. Spoon fondant over top, allowing it to coat entire cake and excess to drip back into bowl. Place on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet to set. If at any time fondant gets too thick, add hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and warm in the microwave or over a pot of simmering water. Let cookies stand until set, about 30 minutes. If desired, decorate with a few flecks of edible gold leaf. Cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container up to 5 days.

OLD-FASHIONED FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine chopped candied cherries, pineapple, raisins/dates, and pecans in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the flour; mix well to coat. Set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat on medium speed until well combined, light, and creamy.
• By hand, stir in fruit mixture, remaining flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Drop approximately one tablespoon of dough 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350℉ for 10-12 minutes until the edges and centers look cooked through.
• Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
• For the candied cherries, you can use red, green, or a combination of 1/2 cup of each. We always use a combination of both colors.
• We do not recommend substituting fruit cake mix for the candied cherries and candied pineapple. Though it's already chopped (which is nice), fruit cake mix also contains lemon peel/citron, which is strong flavored and overpowering in these cookies.
• If you're like me and like to under-bake your cookies, note that these fruitcake cookies do not lend themselves well to under-baking. Fruitcake cookies get more moist as they sit, and will turn too gooey if under-baked.

MOM'S CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• The day before: chop dates into small pieces and put in a glass bowl. Add rum. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 8 hours, or overnight, to absorb the rum. You can leave this step out if you want but I find it makes the dates more delicious and the cookies have more flavor.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Dice candied cherries and pineapple into small pieces and place in a very large bowl; I use the top of my cake carrier. Add pecans, followed by dates. Add 1 cup flour. Toss well to coat all of the pieces and break them up so they are not sticking together.
• Whisk baking soda into the milk and let it dissolve.
• Mix shortening into the fruit. Add remaining flour, sugar, eggs, orange juice, nutmeg, salt, and milk-baking soda mixture. Mix together with your hands just until you no longer see the flour. Try not to overmix. The batter will be very dense.
• Use a small ice cream scoop or two teaspoons to drop the cookies onto the prepared pans, about 1 inch apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire cooling racks.

HOLIDAY FRUITCAKE DROP COOKIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a reusable silpat.
• Cream together the butter and sugar, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and mix for another minute.Pro Tip: crack your eggs into a separate bowl and then pour in, this will help avoid any shell pieces in your cookies!
• Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla and mix another minute.
• In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.
• Add the flour a little at a time to the cookie dough mixture, just until combined.
• Stir/Mix in the candied cherries, dates and chopped pecans. Pro Tip: if you want a more pronounced red and green look, save back 1/2 cup of each color cherries. Then dot the outside of the portioned cookies with the extra pieces.
• Drop the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet, about a heaping tablespoon each.
• If using the pecan half, place on top of each cookie, pressing down to adhere and spread the cookie a little.
• Bake for 9-11 minutes. They will be done when the very outside edge is just starting to turn golden. They are a very soft cookie so they will seem under done in the center, but will firm up as they cool. Watch the first batch and see how long it takes, then use that time for the remaining batches. If you are baking in batches, place the remaining dough in the refrigerator until needed.
• Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.