Yep. You see that I've written the F-word, and I can tell you that I have spoken that word over the last month on numerous occasions. And lastly, I have eaten a lot of those F-word cookies too, and I've got to tell you that they're darn good! So what's my beef with fruitcake? Dried fruit is not a go-to food item for me...not by a long shot. Too sweet? Too stick-to-my-teeth chewy? Yes and yes. So, my preference is to eat fresh fruit.
My experiences with dried fruit are limited to the occasional salad sprinkle, singular addition to chocolate chip cookies (talking to you, raisin) or final bonus to a slow baked granola, etc. But the thought of many dried fruits along with candied cherries foregrounded in a cake has never appealed to me. In addition, what do you make of Holiday Fruitcake's reputation as the gift that's never eaten but given to someone else in a year? Fake news? Would you endorse cake with this background?
My avoidance of fruitcake has childhood roots (which have fossilized), explaining why it is likely we will never be friends. I'm okay with this.
And yet I recently mixed a boatload of dried figs, apricots, cranberries, raisins, and candied cherries with a buttery shortbread dough and the beauty and taste were remarkable: Bejeweled Rounds! I share the recipe for these cookies in the hopes that you will try them for yourself before too long. Valentine's Day might be just the time đ
Notes
1. You will need to start this recipe a day or two in advance because there is a bit of time needed to chop the dried fruits and then let them hang out together. But once all that is done, the process moves quickly.
2. I weighed all fruit and nut ingredients, but if you don't have a scale, just read package weights.
3. When I looked at all the chopped fruit, I thought it was too much for the dough. So I kept out a cup of it for other uses (more about that later).
4. I used salted butter, eliminating kosher salt from the mentor recipe.
5. I used granulated sugar instead of super fine sugar as suggested in the mentor recipe.
6. The taste is not too sweet, mellowed with the fruity mix, and rich as only shortbreads are... yum!
7. If you believe that you eat first with your eyes, these will not disappoint. They are gorgeous.
8. Next time I might sprinkle them with a little sanding sugar before going into the oven, or dust with a bit of 10x sugar after they come out.
9. Kudos to Ina Garten for the mentor recipe! These cookies are keepers đ
Fruitcake Shortbread Cookies
Yield: 6 dozen (with about a cup of leftover dried fruit mix)
1/2 pound dried figs
1/4 pound raisins
2 ounces candied cherries, coarsely chopped
2 ounces dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 ounces chopped pecans
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 extra-large egg
2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
1. Snip off stems of figs and coarsely chop and place in a medium bowl.
2. Into that bowl, add the raisins, chopped cherries, chopped apricots, honey, sherry, lemon juice, and chopped pecans. Mix until all is combined.
3. Cover the bowl of fruit and nuts with a piece of plastic wrap and let sit overnight at room temperature.
4. The next day, prepare your electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter, cloves, and sugars (white and brown) on medium speed until smooth.
5. Add the egg and mix until incorporated.
6. Add the flour slowly while mixer is on low so that you don't have flour everywhere. I often tent my mixer with a towel to keep the flour where it belongs. Don't overmix.
7. Finally, add in the fruit, nuts, and any liquid in the bowl from the overnight togetherness. (SEE note above regarding the amount of fruit I used.)
8. If your mixer strains to combine the fruit with the shortbread, you may need to mix the fruit in with a heavy-duty spatula.
9. Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a piece of parchment paper measuring 12" x 18" with the long side close to you. Roll each half into a log about 18 inches long and 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter. I used a bit of flour to keep the log from sticking (you will see the flour on the log below). And then roll the parchment paper around the log, fully covering it.
10. I then wrapped each parchment paper log with plastic wrap and placed them into the refrigerator for several hours.
11. Preheat the oven to 350ÂșF.
12. Take out one log and unwrap fully.
13. With a sharp knife, cut the log into 1/2-inch thick pieces and place the rounds on an ungreased cookie sheet or on a piece of parchment. I used the same parchment that the round was wrapped in.
14. Cookies should be about 1/2" apart as they do not spread much.
15. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
16. Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from baking sheet.
17. Continue the same process with the second log, using the same baking sheet and same piece of parchment.
18. A truly enjoyable cookie to look at and eat. Share with your friends and family. Extras can be frozen in zip-lock bags for future desserts.
19. I used the extra dried fruit bits as ingredients in a green salad and as a topping for carrot soup below.
Happy New Year! Thank you for sticking with me for three years đ Have a wonderful 2017!
