Holiday Fruitcake Bars: 12 Days of Cookies Day 12

Merry Christmas! For Christmas Day, I’ve decided to make Fruitcake Bars. Fruitcake has a terrible reputation here in the States, but in our household, we always make Christmas cake, which is a fruitcake. I think many people dislike the candied fruit, and I don’t disagree. We don’t use candied fruit in our Christmas cake or in these bars; dried fruit is much better. This bar recipe uses quite a few ingredients, some that I had to stock up on. If you are unable to find certain dried fruits, you can certainly substitute for what you can find, just ensure that you use the same total quantity (5 cups).

I hadn’t initially planned on making these bars, but when we were in downtown Seattle at Thanksgiving, we stopped in the Dahlia Lounge Bakery and they had these one for sample. I was distracted and didn’t try them, but Tim did, and he thought they were great. He went online and found the recipe and I knew they would be perfect for Christmas.

The original recipe had you make these in one go, but I wanted to give the fruit some time to soak up the brandy. You barely heat the brandy and the add it to the dried fruits. The recipe had you let this sit until cool, but I waited until the next morning to bake the bars. I think that made the bars even better, but I am a big fan of fruitcake so perhaps I am not the best judge. These take a bit of time and energy, but it really isn’t Christmas in our house without fruitcake.

Holiday Fruitcake Bars

1 cup brandy

1½ cups dried tart cherries

1½ cups prunes, chopped

1 cup golden raisins

½ cup raisins

½ cup dried currants

2 cups flour

¾ teaspoon allspice

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Powdered sugar

Heat the brandy in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer; remove from the heat. In a large bowl, combine the dried fruits. Add the brandy and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to steep overnight.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with parchment or foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the dried fruits and stir to combine. In a large mixer bowl beat the butter and brown sugar until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining flour mixture.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the dried fruits and pecans with a spatula. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan. The mixture will be thick and heavy.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, rotating once during baking, until a toothpick inserted into the fruitcake comes out nearly clean. Cool in the pan for an hour and then remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack until completely cool, about an hour. Peel off the parchment and cut into bars. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Recipe from Tom Douglas, The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

12 Days of Cookies Day 11: Fruitcake Cookies

Many people don’t like fruitcake, but it can be great, so I figured that a fruitcake cookie might be less scary than an entire fruitcake. I don’t like a lot of candied fruits, which I think is what most people think of when they think of fruitcake. It’s too bad. You can make fruitcake with dried fruits and it’s a lot better. We make a Christmas (fruitcake) cake every year and it doesn’t have any candied fruit at all. This cookie does have a little candied fruit, but just 2 ounces. And if you don’t like it you can simple omit it.

This recipe calls for 14 ounces of dried fruit, and you can use any combination that you want. The original recipe called for 8 ounces of dried figs, but they aren’t my favorite. I substituted a combination of dried cranberries and currants. I thought about using dates, which would also be great, but they are a pain to chop up! You can also use and brandy or liqueur to soak the fruits and nuts. The recipe called for sherry, but I didn’t have any. I used Grand Marnier. Brandy would also be nice. You could use fruit juice if you wanted to avoid alcohol.

I prepped the fruits one night, made the dough in the morning, and then baked up the cookies once I got home. You could refrigerate them longer if you wanted. I don’t think I have ever cut slice and bake cookies so thick, ½”, but it works here. The cookies taste a lot like fruitcake, although not quite as heavy as fruitcake can be. I really liked these cookies, and I encourage you to give them a try, even if you’re afraid of fruitcake!

Fruitcake Cookies

6 ounces dried cranberries

2 ounces currants

4 ounces raisins

2 ounces candied peel or cherries, chopped

2 ounces dried apricots, chopped

1 tablespoon honey

2-4 tablespoons brandy or liqueur

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6 ounces chopped pecans

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 2/3 cups flour

In a medium bowl, combine the cranberries, currants, raisins, candied peel, apricots, honey, brandy, lemon juice, pecans, and salt. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight at room temperature.

The next day: in a large mixer bowl cream the butter, cloves, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and stir just until incorporated. Add the fruits and nuts (and any liquid) to the dough and stir on low to combine.

Divide the dough into thirds and shape each piece into a log, 1-1/2” in diameter and about 12 inches long. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Slice the logs into ½” thick slices and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Ina Garten