Dark and Moist Fruitcake

My version of a traditional fruitcake, with anything I thought would taste particularly good added in. I found that it was the best after about 9 weeks of aging, so plan ahead, and be prepared to buy a lot of alcohol! The basting really helps make it moist and makes the flavour complex. To stick with a dark colour theme (to complement my "light" fruitcake) I used dark rum, coffee liquor, molasses, brown sugar, and lots of figs and dates. And for a bit of crunch, some walnuts!

You can use different dried fruits, and next time I make this cake I think I'll add more, including some dried apricots and cherries. Still, this cake turned out really well! It was especially popular, I think, because of the copious amounts of coffee liquor that complemented the taste of the molasses and spices really well. I suspect that, if you wanted to try something really unorthodox, you could eat it with soft cheese... something I plan to try myself.

Dark Fruitcake
adapted from chowhound

3 Eggs
3/4 C. Butter (About 170g)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Cocoa
1 1/2 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Each cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
Zest of one lemon and one orange
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Dark brown sugar
1/4 C. Molasses
2 TBSP. Apricot jam, smooth
1 C. Dates
1 C. Figs
1 1/2 C. Mixed golden and dark raisins
1 C. Walnut pieces
1/2 C. Mixed diced peel
1/3 C. Currants
1/2 C. Dark spiced rum
1/4 C. Brandy (I used apricot brandy)

To Baste:
A generous amount each of dark spiced rum, (apricot) brandy and coffee liquor

Soak snipped fruits in rum 2-5 days in advance.

Prepare two 9'' loaf pans with butter and baking parchment.

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
Beat the butter, sugar and molasses together until smooth. Add the vanilla, jam, zest and molasses. Beat in the eggs and mix until homogeneous.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Next, add the fruit and nuts and stir in until well-mixed.

Bake at 160℃ for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool before removing from pans and brushing with a mixture of the basting alcohols.

Wrap up in alcohol-soaked cheesecloth and plastic wrap and let ripen for 6-9 weeks in a cool well-ventilated place, unwrapping and brushing with the basting alcohol about once a week. If you check on them and they're already very moist with alcohol (this occurred after 4 weeks of the basting process for me) you can leave them be.

Serve on its own or covered in marzipan once ripe.

Chewy Fudge Brownies sans Chocolate, Butter, and Leavening Agent...

I'm really amazed these brownies work. There's no chocolate, no butter, no melting together of the ingredients in a bain-marie... there's not even any leavening, but they work!

I love a fudgy, chewy, dense brownie. I also love recipes that require very little planning ahead to get the ingredients ready (at least, when I'm working with the limited storage space of my tiny apartment-kitchen rather than the spacious home-kitchen where I can comfortably keep a huge arsenal of rarely-used substances) so this was a very nice recipe for me to find.

I didn't use any chocolate chips and instead doubled up on walnuts, because I love walnuts in almost everything and didn't feel like going out to buy chocolate. I add a bit of Kahlua instead of coffee to the liquid components, which is not necessary but it's really hard to go wrong with a touch of booze in any baked good.

When you have a limited variety of ingredients and/or equipment, this is an amazing way to still get your brownie fix. One important note: since there's no butter contributing flavour, it's extra important to use good cocoa powder.

Chewy Fudge Brownies

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

2/3 C. Cocoa
1 1/4 C. Sugar, or 1 C. sugar and 1/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. Powder sugar
1 Tsp. Salt
1 C. All purpose flour
2 TBSP Instant coffee powder or 1 TBSP espresso powder (optional)
1-2 C. Walnut, pecan and/or chocolate pieces
1/2 C. Neutral flavoured oil (I used canola)
3 TBSP Kahlua (or strong coffee)
3 Tsp. Vanilla extract
3 Eggs

Preheat oven to 180℃. Grease and line an 8'' x 8'' pan with baking parchment.

Whisk together the eggs, oil and normal sugar until relatively smooth (sugar will still be grainy). Add Kahlua/coffee, vanilla, and instant coffee/espresso powder (if using).

Separately, sift or whisk together the flour, powder sugar, salt and cocoa. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until homogeneous with a large spoon. Add nuts and/or chocolate.

Pour into pan and spread evenly, and bake for 45-55 minutes. Remove and let cool at least an hour before removing from the pan and cutting.

Vanillekipferl

Kipferl in the foreground, walnut cookies in the back.

There are a lot of names for this cookie, and a lot of variations- some use eggs and some don't, some use almonds and some hazelnuts, some are rolled in powder sugar and some just lightly dusted. Though they are well-known in the Christmas baking repertoires of many nations, I know them as Haselnusskipferl because as far as my Mum is concerned, they've got to be made with hazelnuts.

To make them extra special and Christmas-worthy, use really good hazelnuts or hazelnut flour, good butter, and real vanilla extract or naturally-flavoured sugar. Don't skimp out! These are supposed to be a highlight of the holidays, after all. The other cookies in the pictures above, made with walnuts, will also be posted- at least, in time for next Christmas...

Haselnusskipferl
From chefkoch.de

560 g. All purpose flour
200 g. Ground hazelnuts (I used hazelnut flour)
2 Tsp. Vanilla extract, or 2 sachets of vanilla sugar
120 g. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Salt
400 g. Butter, unsalted
About 1/3 C. Powder sugar

Cream butter and sugar, and add vanilla or vanilla sugar. Mix in the ground nuts and sift in the flour. Chill in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut into small pieces (about the size of large olives) and roll into logs, then bend to form crescents and place onto baking parchment.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned.

Let cool completely before removing from the baking pan and dusting with powder sugar.