Cream puffs start out with the batter – Pâte à choux, or “choux pastry”. It’s a basic recipe that’s used to make everything from cream puffs and eclairs to cruellers and churros. It doesn’t contain any leavening ingredients (yeast, baking powder, baking soda, etc), instead relying on its high moisture content to puff during baking. Baked at a high temperature, the water becomes steam and creates large air pockets in the final product. Fill them however you want – with pastry cream, pudding, mousse – and there you go. Fancy dessert!

If you want to up the badass factor though, consider assembling cream puffs into a croquembouche. A croquembouche is a spectacular dessert. It’s traditionally served at weddings in various European cities, but is also becoming a popular alternative to wedding cakes here in North America. It’s also great for holiday dinners, or fancier potlucks. A bit of a disclaimer here: This is an easy recipe to make, however, it’s also sort of dangerous. I won’t kid you, there is nothing worse than a hot sugar burn. If you drop the sugar onto skin, it will burn, it will stick, and it will HURT! Please exercise caution when dealing with the caramel in this recipe. If you do make this for a group, and you do manage to burn yourself in the process.. I promise the reception it will receive – and the amount of brownie points you’ll gain – will be worth it. Be careful anyways, though.

The recipes below – the cream puff dough, filling, and caramel to assemble the croquembouche – are all from my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker. Used together, you can make a croquembouche from scratch, start to finish.

HOWEVER, I realize this may be more ambitious than everyone has time or energy for. So… a couple suggestions if you need to “cheat” it:

1. Use instant pudding, Cool Whip, or another pre-made filling to fill the homemade cream puffs… or

2. Buy pre made cream puffs, proceed directly to the croquembouche recipe at the bottom.

Personally, I think it’s fun to do the start-to-finish thing… and gives you huge bragging rights. Also, it’s not difficult at all, or even all THAT time consuming. The pastry cream can be made ahead, and the puffs themselves work up really quickly.

Pâte à choux (cream puff dough)

1 cup Water
1/2 cup Butter
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Flour
3 Large eggs
2 Egg whites

Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking sheet. It’s very important to not grease the pan – it will cause the pastries to flatten!

Combine water, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium sauce pan, heat to a boil. Remove from heat, add flour, stirring until well incorporated.

Reduce heat to medium, return saucepan to stove top. Cook for another minute or so, until the dough comes together, leaving the sides of the pan. Transfer dough to the bowl of your mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the dough for a minute or so to allow it to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, beat together eggs and egg whites in a small bowl. With the mixer set to medium, add egg mixture to dough a little at a time, allowing eggs to fully incorporate into the dough before adding more. It may look like a separating mess, but I promise it will come together!

When all of the eggs are incorporated and the dough is smooth and shiny, it’s ready to pipe! It’ll be soft and a bit sticky, but more or less be able to hold it’s shape.

Using spoons or a pastry bags, make tablespoon-sized mounds of batter, leaving 2″ of space between each. Use a moistened finger to pat down any peaks of dough that may form as you finish piping each.

Bake for 12 minutes, then -WITHOUT opening the oven door – turn the temperature down to 350°F (180°C) and bake for another 25 minutes. Crack the oven door open a few inches, turn the heat off, and allow the puffs to cool in the oven for 30 minutes. This step allows the insides to dry out, providing a stronger structure to prevent collapse.

Fill a pastry bag with your choice of pastry cream, pudding, or mousse. Once puffs are completely cool, jam the tip of the pastry bag into the side of a puff, and fill!

If you’re not planning to make a croquembouche, dust with powdered sugar, drizzle with chocolate, and/or serve with fresh fruit or berries.

Boozy Pastry Cream

To make this recipe alcohol free, substitute 1/2 cup half and half for the 1/2 cup of liqueur, add 1-2 tsp of Vanilla (or other flavor) extract.

3 Large egg yolks
1/4 cup Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Flour
1/2 cup Cream liqueur of choice.
1/2 cup Milk
2 Tbsp Butter

Whisk yolks together with sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Add flour, whisk until incorporated and smooth. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring liqueur and milk to a light boil.

Measure about 1/4 cup (50 ml)of the hot milk liquid, and stream slowly into egg mixture while whisking. Continue streaming liquid and whisking until it is completely incorporated, and mixture is smooth. Repeat with another 1/4 cup (50 ml) of hot liquid.

Remove saucepan from heat, pour egg mixture into milk mixture, whisking constantly. Once fully incorporated and smooth, return to heat. Turn heat down to low. Continue whisking mixture constantly, cooking until mixture is very thick. Remove from heat, whisk in butter until fully incorporated and smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap, chill until needed.

Croquembouche

2-3 batches of profiteroles, chilled
2 1/2 cups Sugar
2/3 cup Water

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water, bringing to a boil over high heat. As soon as sugar begins to change color – about 300°F (150°C) – remove pan from heat. Set pan in a larger pan of warm water, on heat proof surface. This will slow the cooking, but keep the caramel warm enough to work with.

Work quickly to assemble your croquembouche. I like to freestyle it, not bothering with a form, but your mileage may vary. Feel free to use a styrofoam cone – like a craft store Christmas tree form – covered in parchment paper if you’d like.

Carefully dip a profiterole into the hot caramel, place on serving plate. Repeat with 15-20 more puffs to form a large circle. Make a second row on top of it, using less puffs and attaching them slightly to the inside of the first row. Continue making gradually smaller rings, until closing off the top with a single profiterole. Depending on how generous you are with the dipping, you may want to make a second batch of caramel at some point.

When your tower is assembled, drizzle caramel or melted chocolate all over it, dust with powdered sugar, and/or garnish with decorative items such as candied flowers, nuts, etc.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try making a web of sugar strands around it. Cut the very end off a wire whisk, or use 2-3 forks held together. Dip the tines of the forks / whisk into the remaining hot caramel, and use a swift motion to spin trails of caramel around the croquembouche. You can spin as much or as little sugar as you’d like, to achieve your desired effect.

Serve within 2 hours of making. It’s best to serve as soon as possible, as the caramel threads (if used) are very sensitive to moisture in the air – and in the dessert itself – and will melt.

Be forewarned – doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling this recipe is a very wise idea – HIGHLY addictive! If you’re baking them for a party, be prepared that you – and anyone around – will not be able to resist these, straight from the oven. Also, “I’ll just try one..” doesn’t work.

In addition to being an excellent hot party food, these taste awesome as a cold breakfast or snack the next day.

Mushroom Turnovers

Dough:
1 stick butter, softened
1 stick (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1.5 cups flour

Filling:
8 oz baby bella mushroom slices
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

—

Small piece of Brie (Can use Mozzarella), cut into ½ x ½” x 1″ strips
1 egg
1 tsp water

Beat butter and cream cheese until well mixed and soft. Slowly add flour. Once all flour is added, turn out and knead until well incorporated and smooth. Form a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 mins.

In food processor (or by hand, ew) chop mushrooms, onion, and garlic together, until mushrooms and onions are small, fairly uniform sized bits. Put in frying pan with olive oil, and cook down until mushrooms are very soft – almost mushy. Add thyme and sea salt, remove from heat, and stir in the 1/4 cup cheese. Put aside and allow to cool a bit.

Preheat oven to 450.

Roll chilled dough out to about 1/4″ thick. Use a large glass or cookie cutter (about 3-4″ in diameter) to cut out rounds.

Put a scant Tbsp of filling in the center of each round, along with a strip of cheese. Whisk the egg and water in a mug, brush a small amount along ½ the edge of each round. Seal, using the egg mix like a glue. Arrange turnovers onto a baking sheet, pressing down firmly around the edges to seal completely.

Brush the tops of turnovers with egg wash, then pierce each with a fork a few times. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden.

Forget everything you’ve heard about fruitcake, and about gluten free baking. This is a gorgeous, extremely tasty fruitcake that will be loved by all – fans of regular fruitcake, fruitcake haters, people with gluten allergies, and even those who aren’t restricted to gluten free.

This cake has a wonderful texture – you’d never know it was gluten free. Trust me – I’m the BIGGEST snob about gluten free baked goods!

This cake, though? I’d eat this for breakfast, in addition to as a snack, or dessert. I’ll be making variations of this throughout the year, to satisfy any urge for baked goods. This is WAY too good to be designated JUST a holiday thing!

We used a mix of raisins, cranberries, cherries, apricots, and pineapple, but you can use a combination of whatever dried fruit you love. It is boozed up with Southern Comfort, which works SO well with the fruit flavors, in my opinion.

For a HUGE variety of dried fruits, there’s no beating Nuts Online. Apples, blackberries, cantaloupe – so much variety! Just go for the more natural, chewy type dried fruit. Banana chips, freeze dried, etc won’t work as well.

Gluten Free Fruitcake

2 3/4 cup mixed dried fruits *
2/3 cup Southern Comfort **
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour blend
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans

A day or two before baking the fruitcake, chop dried fruits into pieces, mix in Southern Comfort, and cover.

When ready to make the fruitcake, Preheat oven to 325F. Spray an 8″ round cake pan (spring form pan works, also), and then line it with parchment paper. I like to cut a round just slightly bigger than the bottom diameter of the pan, centering it, and smoothing the edges slightly up the side of the pan, folding and easing as necessary. Then, I cut a “collar” of parchment, about 5″ x 28″. Fold that in half along the length, and then place that – folded side down – around the inside edge of the cake pan.

Strain dried fruit mixture, leaving it in your sieve to drain while you prepare the rest of the cookie batter. Be sure to reserve the Southern Comfort / fruit syrup that strains out!

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg YOLKS (reserving the whites separately), vanilla, and zests, continue beating until eggs are fully incorporated and mixture is once again smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the butter & sugar mixture, beat gently until well combined. Add milk, continuing to beat until well combined. Add in the strained fruits, mixing once more until well combined. Set aside.

In a – very clean – mixing bowl or stand mixer, whip the egg whites on high speed, until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped egg whites into the main batter, until all of the “white” disappears. Gently mix in the pecans, just until well distributed.

Pour cake batter into prepared cake pan, smooth around the pan to push the parchment paper “collar” against the sides of the pan. Gently bang the pan onto a flat surface a few times to knock out any air bubbles.

Bake for about an hour and a half – hour and 45 minutes, until a knife poked into the center of the cake comes out clean.

While cake is still hot, pour reserved Southern Comfort runoff evening over the top of the cake. Allow to cool fully before removing from pan.

* Although I’ve been a happy repeat customer for years, I am required by FTC law to disclose: Nuts Online actually gifted me a few ingredients for the development of some recipes several months ago. I would never in a million years recommend a company that I wasn’t thrilled with. It was my history as a BIG FAN of theirs, that prompted me to work with them in this manner in the first place. I receive no compensation for this endorsement – I just love em!

** If you’re not a fan of Southern Comfort, use Jack Daniels, Rum, or Brandy.

You see, I’m one of those people that hate fruitcake. It’s not that I buy into mass “ew!” hysteria (I love broccoli and Brussels sprouts, for instance!), it’s that I find glaceed / candied fruit to be one of the nastiest things on the planet. I mean, right up there with Velveeta. Gross. Then, there is the “gluten free” issue. As I mentioned in my recipe for an Easy way to make French Macarons, I am NOT a fan of anything that uses fake flours to make a regular recipe into a gluten free recipe. I’m a major “Gluten Free” Snob, and pretty much stick to treats that are inherently gluten free, such as coconut macaroons, Pavlova, and French Macarons.

I’ve just always found anything made with the fake flours to be nasty, both in taste and texture.

You may be asking yourself, right about now, WHY I created this recipe. Well, I’ll tell you – painkillers!

I really hate taking painkillers, as they make me feel really gross. I have to be in really rough shape to even consider it – and making tamales this weekend really beat me up. When I couldn’t move my arm/shoulder without screaming pain for a few hours, I finally caved in.

45 minutes later, I was sorta woozy and craving fruitcake. Yes, I know – I *HATE* the stuff.

So, I did what one would expect an ADD, creative baker with gluten allergies to do when high as a kite – I designed a gluten free recipe, and demanded nicely asked my husband to drive me shopping for the ingredients I would require.

I chopped the fruit and soaked them in booze overnight, looking forward to baking them the next day.

OH. WOW. These are amazing! I mean, amazing-amazing, not “amazing – for a gluten free cookie”. The substitution of dried fruits for glaceed, the Southern Comfort… it just created this vivid palette of flavor, which *completely* hid any gluten-free nastiness! With so much texture from the fruit and nuts, the cookies COMPLETELY lack any of the weird texture issues I have with normal gluten free cookies.

These were so fabulous, my not-stuck-in-gluten-free-hell husband LOVES them. A few days later, and I’m already putting on a second batch! So good!

We used a mix of raisins, cranberries, cherries, apricots, and pineapple, but you can use a combination of whatever dried fruit you love. Oh, and don’t worry about buying too much – not only will you want to put on another batch once you try these… but I’ll be posting a recipe for gluten free fruitcake tomorrow!

For a HUGE variety of dried fruits, there’s no beating Nuts Online. Apples, blackberries, cantaloupe – so much variety! Just go for the more natural, chewy type dried fruit. Banana chips, freeze dried, etc – they won’t work as well.

Gluten Free Fruit Cake Cookies Recipe
(This makes about 20-24 LARGE cookies… probably a good idea to double the recipe!)

1 lb (About 3 cups) mixed dried fruit*
1 cup Southern Comfort **
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup gluten free all-purpose “flour”
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 lb. pecans, chopped

A day or two before baking the cookies, chop dried fruits into pieces, mix in Southern Comfort, and cover.

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or coat well with baking spray. Strain dried fruit mixture, leaving it in your sieve to drain while you prepare the rest of the cookie batter.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and zests, continue beating until eggs are fully incorporated and mixture is once again smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add most of it (reserve about 1/4 cup) to the butter & sugar mixture, beat gently until well combined.

Add strained fruit to the reserved flour mixture, toss well to coat the pieces (to separate them a bit). Add coated fruit and pecans to the cookie batter, mix well.

Use a tablespoon, cookie scoop, or small ice cream scoop to drop rounded spoonfuls of the batter onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes or so, before gently transferring to baking racks to finish cooling.

Once cookies are cool, keep them stored in airtight containers. Much like actual fruitcake, these tend to get even better with age!

* Although I’ve been a happy repeat customer for years, I am required by FTC law to disclose: Nuts Online actually gifted me a few ingredients for the development of some recipes several months ago. I would never in a million years recommend a company that I wasn’t thrilled with. It was my history as a BIG FAN of theirs, that prompted me to work with them in this manner in the first place. I receive no compensation for this endorsement – I just love em!

** If you’re not a fan of Southern Comfort, use Jack Daniels, Rum, or Brandy. Also, add a pinch each of cloves and nutmeg – it’ll work fabulously with these other spirits.

I always enjoy exposing people to “new” ideas – even if only new to them!

Clodhoppers are a very well known candy back home in Canada. One Winnipegger wanted to market his grandmother’s candy, got together with a childhood friend of his, and got to work. Within a few years, the candy was selling all over Canada.

The candy is apparently no longer made in Winnipeg, having been sold to a company on the West Coast – and I’ve since become allergic to gluten, rendering these treats toxic to me – but I’ll never forget em. Super, super addictive stuff.

Was thinking of them, the other day. I’ve never seen them here in the USA, so I decided to create a homemade version for my husband. The proportions turned out beautifully!

Clodhoppers have only 3 simple ingredients – white chocolate, cashews, and graham crackers – and they whip up in no time. Have bowls of this out at holiday parties, or package them up for a hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or “Thank you” that your friends and family will love!

Clodhoppers

Graham crackers
1 cup salted cashew pieces
11-12 oz bag GOOD white chocolate chips

Prepare a baking sheet or other flat surface with a large piece of parchment paper.

Smash up about a sleeve worth of graham crackers, into bite sized pieces. Measure two cups of the graham bits into a large bowl. I measured out chunks AND the fine particles, which makes the Clodhoppers as shown. For a “prettier” candy, don’t include the fine particles in your measurement. Add cashews, stir lightly to distribute.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips – I usually do 45 second increments, stirring in between each.

When chocolate is fully melted, pour over graham/cashew mixture, stir well to coat everything. Turn mixture out onto parchment paper, spreading mixture out to form bite sized chunks.

Cool until set, store in airtights bags / containers.

Knowing that I’d only need a small amount of potato, I got a bit lazy .. Err.. CREATIVE, and picked up a couple “sour cream and chive” baked potatoes at Wendy’s!

It only took a minute to scrape off the chives, and voila! Tons of time saved. Suck it, Martha Stewart!

Knowing that my husband hasn’t been fond of peppermint patties – but was willing to have his opinion changed over homemade ones! – I picked up some good dark chocolate to dip these in. You can dip them in whatever chocolate you want – chocolate chips, a few good chocolate bars, or baking chocolate. Also, feel free to play with the flavoring in this! If you’re not a fan of mint, ANY extract can be used! Add a little food coloring, and you can make an assortment of cherry, orange, maple… whatever fillings you can imagine!

This recipe works up quickly. It only takes about 5 minutes to mix it up, another 5 or so to roll/flatten, and probably 10-15 to dip them. SO worth it.

Enjoy!

Homemade Peppermint Patties Recipe

2 russet potatoes
2 Tbsp butter, softened
Pinch of salt
6+ cups powdered sugar (icing sugar, confectioner’s sugar)
1-2 tsp peppermint extract
~ 12 oz chocolate of choice

Bake potatoes until soft all the way through. (Or cheat and buy baked potatoes from Wendy’s!. )

Cut potatoes in half, scoop the insides into a mixing bowl, being careful not to include any of the skin. Add butter and salt, mash as well as you can – you want it as smooth as possible!

Carefully stir in 1 cup of powdered sugar – the mixture will go VERY liquid, don’t worry when this happens!

If there are any lumps in the mixture at this point, run it through a wire sieve, mashing the mixture as you go. Discard any lumps that you can’t force through.

Stir in peppermint extract (1 tsp for mildly minty, up to 2 tsp for “in your face” minty!) until well incorporated. Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar, stirring until it forms a thick dough. (You may need more than 6 cups, depending on how wet your potatoes were!). Knead the dough a couple times, until it forms a smooth ball.

Pinch off bits of the dough that are big enough to make balls that are about 1″ in diameter. Roll each bit into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Place disks on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Once all of the dough is made into disks, place cookie sheet into a freezer for at least 2 hours.

When you’re ready to dip the mints:

Chop up the chocolate into little pieces, place in a glass bowl, and melt them. I like to microwave them in 30 second intervals (stirring after each), because I can’t be bothered with a double boiler.

When chocolate is fully melted and smooth, remove cookie sheet from the freezer and dip them one at a time.

I placed a disk on a fork (on it, not speared with it!), and gently turned it over a few times in the chocolate. With the mint on the flat surface of the fork, I gently knocked the fork against the bowl a few times to get rid of excess chocolate.

For a smooth top, carefully slide the mint off of the fork, and onto foil or parchment paper. For the more textured top, flip the mint upside down, and use the fork to swirl chocolate on any “bald” spots.

Let mints cool until chocolate is hardened, then enjoy!

These truffles are based on our famous Chai cake flavor. The warmth of the spices – cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg – pair fabulously with creamy milk chocolate, for a super satisfying sugar rush.

Truffles are easy to make – much easier than their retail cachet would have you think! Even a novice cook can turn these babies out, with very little effort, stress, or cost.

While chocolate chips may be a highly unusual medium for truffle making, they are easy to find, and lack the sticker shock that comes with the more traditional chocolate options. Anyone can make these truffles at home, with common ingredients, for only about $4.00/30 truffles!!

Chai Truffles

10-11 oz bag good quality milk chocolate chips
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp instant tea powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Cocoa to roll them in

Place chocolate chips into a glass mixing bowl, and put aside.

In a small saucepan, combine heavy whipping cream, tea powder, and spices. Heat to a boil, remove from heat.

Pour hot cream mixture into bowl of chocolate chips. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Starting in the middle of the bowl, slowly start stirring the chocolate and cream until all of the chocolate is melted and the cream has disappeared into it – it should be smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap, preferably resting right on top of the surface – this prevents a skin from forming while it cools. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two, until it’s pretty solid. Once solid, scoop out small amounts (a teaspoon or two), and roll them into balls. Try to handle the chocolate as quickly as possible, or it will melt.

Once all of the ganache is rolled into balls: wash and dry hands, then roll ganache centers in cocoa, or whichever other truffle coating(s) you’d like. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

My first reaction was “Whatever!”, seeing as how I learned the joy of homemade cranberry sauce YEARS ago. I’ve been making my own since… jeez, maybe age 16? Once you’ve had homemade, you just can’t bring yourself to eat the canned stuff.

Then I thought something along the lines of “OMG… people still eat canned?!”. After I mentally smacked myself for thinking so elitist and snotty, I realized that this would be a great subject for a blog entry!

Cranberry sauce is super easy to make. If you follow the basic recipe on most bags of cranberries, it only costs about $1 more than canned, and takes less than 10 minutes. Trust me, TOTALLY worth the effort!

My recipe takes only slightly longer than the basic recipe, and an extra dollar or two in ingredients. Again, that slight investment is a HUGE improvement, even over basic homemade sauce! If you haven’t tried making your own yet, maybe this is the year?

Orange-Ginger Cranberry Sauce

2 oranges
2″ ‘finger’ of fresh ginger root
1 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, washed and picked through

Use a grater or zesting plane to remove all of the zest from both oranges. Peel ginger and slice into a few thin disks.

Juice both oranges into a measuring cup – you’ll want about 1 cup of fresh juice. If you don’t get 1 cup of juice, top up with water or Grand Marnier.

Combine zest, juice, ginger slices and sugar in pot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, allow mixture to steep for 30 minutes.

Once mixture has steeped, remove ginger from the pot and discard. Add cranberries, bring mixture to a boil.

Cook, stirring frequently, until all of the cranberries have rendered down into a thick sauce. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Chill until serving.

Garnish bowl of cranberry sauce with a little curl of orange peel, if you want to be even fancier about it!

Once again, this is a recipe that I’ve had – and used – for years. Today, I have NO idea where it came from, either from when I got it, or originally. I’m guessing I got this from a fellow caker (with permission to use it for my business!)… but who? Did they create it? Did they get it from someone else? I have no idea.

I don’t like how food celebrities tend to just comb the web, looking for recipes to swipe and claim as their own, so I feel a bit icky when considering doing (somewhat) the same. Does honesty about it mitigate the “gross” factor at all?

Thing is, these cookies were SUPER popular, back when I was selling holiday cookie trays. While fruit cake has a bd reputation on its own, these were loved by so many people – including those that hated fruitcake with a passion! It’s been a popular request for a blog entry ever since!

Again, hope I’m not losing any baker’s cred by posting this, but I know it’ll make a bunch of people happy. Especially Davonna. (Hi Nani!)

Fruit Cake Cookies

1 lb raisins
~ 1/2 cup Jack Daniels
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 lb. candied fruit*
1 lb. pecans, chopped

A day or two before baking the cookies, place raisins in a container, cover with Jack Daniels, and cover.

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or coat well with baking spray.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, continue beating until eggs are fully incorporated and mixture is once again smooth and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and spices. Add most of it (reserve about ½ cup) to the butter & sugar mixture, beat gently until well combined.

Add candied fruit to the remaining flour mixture, toss well to coat the pieces (to separate them a bit). Add candied fruit, pecans, and soaked raisins to the cookie batter.

Use a tablespoon, cookie scoop, or small ice cream scoop to drop rounded spoonfuls of the batter onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15-10 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes or so, before gently transferring to baking racks to finish cooling.

Once cookies are cool, keep them stored in airtight containers. Much like actual fruitcake, these tend to get even better with age!

*Prepared mix, or just 1 ½ lbs total of whatever types of candied fruits that you like!

Anyway, in honor of the holiday weekend, I’m gonna share an awesome version of our national dessert – the Nanaimo bar.

As I’ve previously mentioned, on my Mocha Nanaimo Bars Recipe, I do my bars a little different than the norm, just in that I prefer a lot more filling.

I love the bright color and flavor of these cherry Nanaimo bars – they make a really pretty addition to any holiday dessert table!

Enjoy, and have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, eh?

Maraschino Cherry Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer:
½ cup butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup almonds, finely chopped
1 cup coconut

Middle Layer:
1/2 – 1 cup maraschino cherries
½ cup butter
3 tbsp maraschino cherry syrup
3 tbsp Cook-and-Serve vanilla pudding powder (NOT instant!)*
3 cups+ confectioner’s sugar
Red or pink food coloring, optional

Top layer:
6 oz semi sweet baking chocolate squares
3 tbsp butter

Melt butter in small saucepan. Add sugar and cocoa powder, mix well. Add egg, stir well. Egg will cook and thicken. Once thickened, remove from heat and pour into a larger bowl containing the last 3 bottom ingredients. Mix well and press firmly and evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 8 x 8 pan. Set aside.

Drain and finely chop the cherries, reserving 3 Tbsp of the syrup.

Cream Butter. Add cherry syrup and pudding powder, mix until well combined. Add cherries, stirring until once again well combined. Slowly and carefully add confectioner’s sugar to cherry mixture. Mixture should be VERY thick – add a little extra confectioner’s sugar if needed. Use a few drops of food coloring to boost tyhe pink color, if desired. Spread evenly over bottom layer.

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, then pour over middle layer. Chill in fridge before slicing into bars.

* Vanilla pudding powder is the closest ingredient to “custard powder”, which is what you’d use if you’re in Canada or the UK.