Every year our friends invite us to their home after Christmas for their annual fruit cake serving. They get the fruitcake from A Nunnery..?? Or something like that. And that fruitcake is pretty good.Originally Posted by rosarugosa
I think having it fresher, not that dried up crap that you buy as a mass distributed item, is decent. Fruitcake can be pretty good.
Good luck with the fruitcake, Tybee. I've heard the same as rr, so I would definitely like to see your results!
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
The fruitcakes you might be thinking of, like the Claxton ones--theybear little relation to the fruitcakes my mother made. I am looking at tons of old recipes and it looks like there is "white fruitcake" and "black fruitcake" and she made the black fruitcake, which has molasses, spices, fruits, nuts. Then you soak it in bourbon or rum or brandy. Bourbon was my favorite. You keep infusing it and keep it going for weeks--you can do months--with adding more bourbon. It's almost more like a plum pudding concept, with a lot of booze added. My friends in college would fight over who got pieces of that fruitcake, it was so good.
That sounds good, as long as there is no citron!
We were talking about citron yesterday because we both thought it was just fancy lemon but apparently it's its own fruit, citron, which is more primitive than the modern lemon and orange!
And I may be using the word incorrectly. I think it's actually candied citrus peel I object to. I really love tart things; I will happily suck on a lemon or lime wedge, and I'm crazy about grapefruit, but the peels are supposed to be thrown away or composted, IMHO. That stuff is just bitter, bitter, bitter!
Well, I made them. I cheaped out and bought brandy instead of bourbon, which was a mistake. I froze two and so I might buy some bourbon on those two. I made one with grape juice for the non-drinkers.
I cooked them too long--it was four hours at 250, and yeah, they came out a bit dry, ugh. I overbrandied one and it is looking a bit soggy. I haven't tried the brandy soaked ones, as they need at least a week.
The smell sent me into kind of an emotional tailspin, missing my mom. The taste of the grape juice one was exactly as I remembered. My husband said it was amazing.
I will have to involve my daughter in law and granddaughers in making them in future, it's incredibly depressing. I wasn't prepared for my house smelling like my childhood Christmases.
I'm so sorry such a nice endeavor had the "emotional tailspin" for you. I hope they all turn out well in the end!
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
Thank you, that's so nice of you.
Tybee: I'm sorry the smells of childhood Christmases did not evoke warm and happy memories for you. I hope you are right that involving your younger generations in the process will make it a more pleasant experience.
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