cranberries

Sadie’s Fruitcake

I can’t tell you why fruitcake gets a bad rap. Maybe I haven’t eaten a bad one. I can tell you that I could eat this one every day. I’m really proud of it. A blogger friend of mine, Natascha of Natascha’s Palace, made a fruitcake challenge and I accepted. I’ve tweaked this cake to perfection, if I do say so myself. It’s a little sugar, spice and everything nice (with less emphasis on spice or heavy on the everything). This fruitcake is dense and moist and outright delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

As organic as possible:

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/3 cup chopped dates, pitted

1/3 cup dried cherries

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a 10 cup tube or angel food pan. (Do yourself a favor and do not choose a decorative bundt cake pan, trust me on this one.) Set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large a bowl. Gently toss the pecans and walnuts in the flour mixture. Next add the dates. I like to toss these carefully (a few at a time) in the flour nut mixture because they are the stickiest. Once the chopped dates are coated with the flour mixture, add the cherries, cranberries, regular and golden raisins, and coconut. Gently toss until all fruit is lightly coated with flour mixture.

In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer, cream butter. Add sugar and beat with the butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add vanilla, almond extract and lemon juice. Mix well.

Add the dry ingredients, a scoop full at a time to creamed butter mixture, until all is combined. (I like to mix this part by hand, to not over-mix.) The batter will be very thick (like the consistency of  a thick drop cookie). Spoon the batter in the prepared pan, and gently even out the top with the back of the spoon or spatula.

Bake the cake for 1 1/2  hours. Remove cake from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the edges of the cake and place onto cooling rack to cool completely before serving.

 

White Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I am crazy about these cookies. Simply put they are just really good. It’s everything I want in a cookie; sweet, chewy and loaded with flavor in every bite. They are like perfect. And because they have oats, cranberries, and walnuts (and white chocolate chips- but just mumble that under your breath) I feel good about eating them for breakfast. Or in between meals. Or after lunch. and dinner.

As organic as possible:

3/4 cup Butter, softened

1 cup packed Brown sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 3/4 cups Flour

2 cups Oats

1 cup White chocolate chips

1 cup Cranberries

3/4 cup chopped Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375º. Beat butter by hand or with electric mixer until creamy. Add sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and continue to beat until creamy, light and fluffy (scraping the sides as necessary). Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Mix in the flour (I like to do this 1 cup and 3/4 cup at a time). Stir in oats. Batter will be getting thick! Fold in white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts until all are evenly incorporated.

I have said it in the past, we like our cookies big. So I use an ice cream scoop, but you can use smaller spoons if you’d like. Drop the cookies onto an un-greased cookie sheet (leaving space for growth in between). Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until edges are turning brown and center is soft (not wet). Allow to cool for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

*I adapted (dare I say perfected) this recipe many moons ago from a Better Homes and Gardens oatmeal cookie recipe. And you may take any liberties you’d like with substituting ingredients because this recipe is flexible, but if I were you I’d try it like this at least once.