Fruitcake Cookie Recipe
Last week my Standard-Examiner column talked about Wendy Paul’s new cookbook, “101 Gourmet Desserts For The Holidays,” and included her Fruitcake Cookies recipe. Although the recipe was correct when I emailed it to the Standard-Examiner, the first line of the ingredients list was somehow left off when it was printed in the paper. I appreciate reader who alerted me so that I could alert the S-E editors. I subscribe to the Standard-Examiner, but I usually don’t scrutinize my stories when they come out in the paper. I guess I’ll have to be sure to do that in the future!
I was told the recipe would be corrected and posted on the S-E website, but that didn’t happen. Here is the correct version of the recipe:
FRUITCAKE COOKIES
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup candied cherries
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup mixed candied fruits and peels
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream shortening or butter and sugar until light. Add egg and extract and beat until well-blended. Reserve a little of the flour to toss with the fruit. In the beaten mixture, combine remaining flour, salt and baking soda, adding these dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk.
Toss fruits with reserved flour.
Fold in the floured fruits and chopped pecans. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2 to 2 inches between cookies.
Bake for 8-13 minutes, depending on size of cookies. Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookies.
“101 Gourmet Desserts For the Holiday,” by Wendy Paul
(Front Table Books, $18.99)