Fruitcake season has arrived
Almost a decade ago, Marge Reid shared a recipe for a fruitcake she swore even fruitcake haters would like. She found a believer in Nancy Olea and family. But when Olea misplaced the recipe, I wasn’t sure we’d find a replacement for the Olea family Christmas staple. Then Reid’s name popped up in my email inbox.
She kindly sent the recipe she thinks Olea loves so much. Here’s where things get a bit funny. I’ve found the original
column, which appeared in 2008, but not the accompanying recipe. And while the recipe Reid sent this time looks tempting — depending on your take on fruitcake — I don’t think it’s the recipe Olea loved.
The 2008 column mentions a plentiful application of lemon extract and a whopping helping of pecans. But Olea needn’t be dismayed. Another Plates reader, Debbie Westhafer Schoonmaker, contributed a lemony pecan-loaded fruitcake recipe.
And just in case, there’s a third alternative as well: Evelyn Winnegar sent a recipe for a rich Texas pecan candy cake, which is really just candied fruit, pecans and coconut held together by sweetened condensed milk. “I am the only one who eats fruitcake in my family, so I get it all to myself, which can be a not-so-good thing!” Winnegar says. “I do not care much for dark molasses-type fruitcake, so this is really a favorite for me. It is very rich and truly more like candy than anything else.”
Request line
Kathy Stark can’t find her tattered recipe for chocolate shortbread cookies. The recipe calls for both cocoa powder and mini chocolate chips. The dough is rolled out and cut into narrow bars that are dipped in white chocolate after baking. “Everyone’s favorite!” Stark says. “Anyone out there have that recipe?”
When Joanne Hughes arrives at her aunt’s Danville home for their weekly grocery-shopping excursion, she is often greeted with a recipe clipped from Home Plates and something more. “I can count on finding a carefully packed plate of cookies, which she offers as a way of showing her appreciation,” Hughes says. Those tasty thank-yous might not seem all that remarkable until you consider Hughes’ beloved auntie, Angie Call, is 100 years old.
Call still cooks healthy meals for herself and family, Hughes says. “In keeping with our Italian roots, cooking, baking and showing love through food are a way of life for us.”
Call faithfully bakes a batch of cookies from a regular rotation of recipes. “Unfortunately, her treasured recipe file, which was filled with handwritten family favorites and newspaper clippings, has been misplaced,” Hughes says. “We’ve looked everywhere in her house without success. To replace it, family members have collected some of her best recipes and put them in a binder for her. Happily, she once again has almost every favorite recipe except one.”
That’s where you come in, my faithful readers. You see, Call once clipped a raisin cookie recipe from this column. I can’t lay hands on this recipe either, but I am betting one of you can offer Call a suitable raisin cookie recipe. She says these “delectable” cookies are similar to a sugar cookie with less sugar and the addition of the raisins.