Fruitcakes

Yesterday, I made golden pecan and almond fruitcakes.  These might change the way you feel about fruitcake.

 But first, a couple pics of the W's in the snow.  There is Winnie looking up at me in the kitchen window.

 They play in the snow until they drop.

Then they come inside and go out to lay in the snow on the porch.  These two are Winter puppies for sure.

 Remember Winnie a year ago when we first got her?  What a difference a year makes.

 I hadn't made fruitcakes in years so I combined several recipes and developed one of my own.  The candied fruit gets chopped and mixed with flour so that it distributes evenly through the batter.

 I also chose to add a lot of nuts to my cakes.

 This already looks a lot better than the yucky fruitcakes we are used to seeing.

 I'm giving these all away so I made small double serving cakes in these fluted pans.

 This recipe made exactly 10  two cup cakes.

 I baked them at 275 degrees for about an hour and a half which keeps them from drying out.

 After they finished baking, I soaked them in flavored syrup and then wrapped them in wax paper and plastic wrap and stored them in the refrigerator.

Don't these look good?

The recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1-1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

2 tsp lemon juice

2 cups flour, divided

1 tsp baking powder

 2 cups candied red and green cherries, cut in pieces

1/2 lb candied pineapple, cut in pieces

1/2 lb golden raisins

2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

1 cup slivered almonds

1 tsp. rum flavor

1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Generously grease and flour your pans and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together 1-1/2 cups flour and the baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs and lemon juice until incorporated, then add the flour/baking powder mix.
4. In a separate extra large bowl, mix candied fruit and raisins with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour until well coated. Add nuts and then the batter and mix well.
5.  Pour evenly into the your pans.   Bake at 275 degrees for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours until a tooth pick comes out clean.  Do not overcook.
6. Cooking time is approximate depending on the size and type of pans you use. Test for doneness with a toothpick after one hour and as needed afterward.  Let cool completely before removing from pans. Keep covered in fridge.
7. Drizzle with alcohol of your choice or make a simple syrup, which I did, and add a bit of rum to it.