Bake_from_Scratch_November-December_2019

retro redo

FRUITCAKE COOKIES

THE REDO

OUR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CARRIES ON A FAMILY HOLIDAY TRADITION BY

BAKING HIS GRANDFATHER’S FRUITCAKE COOKIES, MADE WITH A BOX MIX.

WE REVAMPED THE STORE-BOUGHT VERSION AS A FROM-SCRATCH

RECIPE BAKED WITH JUST AS MUCH LOVE AND A LITTLE BIT OF

RUM, TOO.

I

t’s funny how the holidays can turn someone who doesn’t bake into the

most enthusiastic of bakers. My grandfather baked only two recipes I was

aware of his entire life: pecan pie and his holiday fruitcake cookies, which

were a Norton (my mom’s family) holiday essential.

Each year leading up to the season, Grandad prepared his fruitcake cookies

for our family. It’s a simple recipe, with boxed spice cake mix, chopped pecans,

and crumbled Claxton Fruit Cake. He learned it during his days in Civitan

International, a community service organization based in his hometown of

Birmingham, Alabama, which sells Claxton Fruit Cake around the holidays as a

fundraiser. After baking several batches, my grandfather would lovingly arrange

the cookies in a white cookie tin decorated with carousel horses—you can see

it pictured in the photo on the next page—and pass the tin around to the whole

family. The combination of warm spices from the cake mix, the pecans, and the

dried fruit in the fruitcake always tasted like the holidays to me.

About fi ve years ago, I realized that as the baker in the family, I would

be responsible for keeping this tradition alive, so I started visiting my

grandparents before the holidays to bake the cookies with my grandfather. The

recipe was easy enough for me to grasp with one quick read-through, but I still

let him teach me every step of the process. After all, the holidays are about

the time you spend with those you love. Visiting my grandparents to bake for

the holidays became a tradition I looked forward to every year.

Grandad passed away last year, and now, I’m especially thankful for those special

moments we spent in the kitchen, talking, baking, and laughing with each other.

Since he isn’t with us to make his cookies for the holidays, I make them instead,

not just to carry on the family tradition but also to relive the sweet memories

I have with my grandfather.

GLAZED FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Makes about 36 cookies

Studded with candied fruit and spiked with rum, these tender

cookies are the from-scratch version of Brian’s grandfather’s

cookies. We fi nished them off with a Rum Drizzle to make them

extra merry. From our family to yours, these cakey cookies are

sure to become a part of your own holiday traditions.

1¼ cups (300 grams) spiced rum

½ cup (100 grams) fi nely chopped candied red cherries

½ cup (100 grams) fi nely chopped candied green cherries

½ cup (87 grams) fi nely chopped dried pineapple

½ cup (83 grams) fi nely chopped crystallized ginger

½ cup (85 grams) fi nely chopped candied orange

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1¾ cups (350 grams) granulated sugar, divided

¼ cup (55 grams) fi rmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs (100 grams), room temperature

1 teaspoon (4 grams) rum extract

3½ cups (438 grams) all-purpose fl our

1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda

1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt

1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground ginger

½ teaspoon (1 gram) ground cloves

1 cup (113 grams) chopped toasted pecans

Rum Drizzle (recipe follows)

—Brian Hart Hoff man, editor-in-chief