Bake_from_Scratch_November-December_2019

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

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
Free download pdf