Fruitcake Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen
Ingredients
Fruit and nut mix
- 150 g | 5 oz mixed dried fruit, such as raisins or dried cranberries, cherries, apricots
- 90 g | 3 oz sweetmeats, such as candied ginger, citron and orange peels
- 120 g | 4 oz coarsely chopped roasted pecans or walnuts
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime or lemon juice
- Grated zest of 1 lime or lemon
- 4 to 6 tablespoon rum, brandy, or whiskey
- Fine sea salt
Dough
- 130 g | ½ cup mashed roasted or steamed sweet potato (recipe above)
- 113 g | ½ cup (1 stick) salted or unsalted butter
- 67 g | ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 67 g | ⅓ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoon ground warm spice blend, such as ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 215 g | 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or 1-to-1 blend of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
For baking
- Roasted pecan or walnut halves
- Glaze: 2 tablespoon rum brandy, or whiskey mixed with 2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Soak the fruit and nuts: If the dried fruit or sweetmeats are big, snip or cut them into pieces no larger than ⅓ (1cm) inch. In a medium bowl, combine all the dried fruit, sweetmeats, nuts, and 2 pinches of salt. Mix in the 1 tablespoon honey and the citrus juice and zest. Add 4 to 6 tablespoon liquor, so there’s a nice boozy spike. Cover and let sit overnight (or up to 3 days) at room temperature to plump up.
- Brown the butter: Put the mashed sweet potato in a large heatproof bowl. Set near the stove. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once foamy, slightly lower the heat to steady cooking. Let swiftly bubble, stir often with a spatula to avoid burnt milk solids, until patches of golden brown appear and the butter is very aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Slide the pan to a cool burner, wait for the bubbling to subside, then pour and scrape the butter onto the sweet potato. Stir to combine well the let briefly cool about 5 minutes.
- Make the dough: Stir in the white and brown sugar (weigh them into the bowl for less clean up!). Add the vanilla extract then season with the spices and salt. Taste and adjust to ensure a very tasty mixture that’s highly spiced (add by the ⅛ tsp) and medium sweet (stir in sugar by 1 Tbsp).
- Stir in the egg and combine well. Add the flour and baking soda, stir and fold to combine halfway. Add all the macerated fruit and nuts plus any liquid in the bowl. Mix just until traces of flour are no longer visible.
- Shape and bake: Preheat the oven to 350F (175C) and set a rack in the middle position. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Use two spoons or a scooper to spoon out heaping tablespoons (roughly 1 ½ Tbsp) of cookie dough, placing them onto the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches (5cm) apart. Moisten fingers to gently neaten up jagged edges on the dough blobs. Press a pecan or walnut half on top of each. Bake one baking sheet at a time until puffy and lightly brown at the edges, 14 to 16 minutes. Let the cookies cool 3 to 5 minutes before brushing with half (2 Tbsp) of the the glaze (re-brush if needed). Repeat to bake and glaze the other cookies.
- Let the cookies completely cool on the baking sheet. The cookies are good a few hours after baking but they will taste better if left to age overnight in an airtight container.
