Pierogi Princess
Senior Cook
I'd be tempted to drink the brandy or throw it in with a pork roast...
Drink it, why should the roast get it.
I'd be tempted to drink the brandy or throw it in with a pork roast...
BevMo is having their Buy 1, Get 1 5 cents sale again, although I'm not sure if it includes brandy.
To make fruitcake, you pretty much have to start now. There's a "watering" process, where you pour brandy all over the cake every 3 days for 2 months. Here's the recipe my friend gave me:
Christmas Fruit Cake
1 lb currants
6 oz sultanas
6 oz raisins
2 oz glace cherries
2 oz mixed chopped lemon and orange peel
Boil water and pour enough to cover the above fruits. Let cool, add brandy to taste, then store for at least overnight (I mentioned earlier doing this the year before you need it so the flavors really develop, but if you need it in a pinch, store at the very least overnight). When ready to use, drain off the liquid but keep the fruits moist and plump.
8 oz AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
8 oz butter
8 oz brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp molasses
2 oz chopped almonds
zest of one lemon
zest of one orange
Grease and line a 8" cake pan with parchment paper
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
Sift four, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl.
Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, then add in molasses. Mix well.
Fold in flour mixture.
Fold in fruits, almonds and peels.
Pour batter into pan and cover with a double layer of parchment paper with a 1" circle cut out in the middle.
Bake for 4 to 5 hours on lowest shelf in the oven, until skewer comes out clean. Do not overbake or it will be dry!
Rest for 30 min in cake pan then place on wire rack until cold.
Wrap with foil, keep in an airtight container.
Every 3 days, use a skewer to poke holes in the cake and "water" with brandy, until ready to eat.
I'd be tempted to drink the brandy...
I am with you, no disrespect to the pig, but he is dead. Cheers!!NOW you're talking! The pig's dead...he won't enjoy it!
Interesting facts about fruitcake:
The oldest known fruitcake is approximately 130 years old and lives under glass in a Michigan home. It was baked by a woman in preparation for a Thanksgiving meal in 1878, but she died right before the holiday and her family didn’t have the heart to eat it. So instead of throwing it out, they saved it and passed it down through the generations. In 2005 this fruitcake made an appearance on “The Tonight Show” and Jay Leno actually took a bite.
Basting fruitcakes with liquor and powdering them with sugar on occasion prevents mold and ensures their long shelf life. Many people believe this is the charm of fruitcake, similar to a fine wine, and will wait up to 25 years to eat them.
Fruitcakes have existed since Roman times but it appears people got fed up with them and in the 1700’s fruitcake was banned throughout Continental Europe for being “sinful.”
In 2005, fruitcake was officially listed as a national security threat. Airline passengers were banned from bringing them as a carry-on when flying. Because of their extreme density, the x-ray machines at screening points were unable to determine if they contained hidden weapons and every fruitcake that went through security had to be carefully inspected. Rather than have to deal with all the fruitcakes (the food, not the people) flying around the county at Christmas time, the government simply banned them.
Several monasteries in the United States have taken to producing fruitcakes for added income. The 14 monks of Assumption Abbey in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri create 23,000 fruitcakes per holiday season. I wonder how much of the liquor that is bought for these cakes makes it into the actual product, but a vow of silence from the monks will keep that a secret forever. There are, however, other ways to capitalize on fruitcakes. Manitoba, Canada held its 12th annual Fruitcake Toss last January. The winner catapulted his fruitcake almost 450 feet.
PP I heat the milk and stick my finger in it to test the temp, it should be just hot enough to leave said finger in liquid. I then put a tsp of sugar in, then the yeast mix and leave till it gets a good frothy head. I then sift the flour and salt into a bowl make a well and pour the yeast liquid in the add the beaten eggs and soft butter, mix together then add the dried fruit ect and knead. I put home made pistachio M/pan in the middle of mine.
Try adding brandied raisins and currants in stollen, it's delicious! To brandy them yourself:
Boil hot water, pour enough just to cover the raisins, cranberries, etc.
Let cool, then add in brandy, however much you like.
Store in a glass jar (I keep mine in the fridge).
When ready to use, drain out the liquid but keep the fruits plump and moist.
It's best made an year in advance, but if you do it today, it'll still taste pretty good by Christmas. I learned this from an British friend who makes fruitcakes, and I used her trick to make the best stollen I've ever tasted.
I made the stollen bread today using Bolus' instructions and they were perfect and I did slip in some brandy soaked raisins, currants and apricots. Yum.
Thanks for the interesting tidbits, Timothy! I love learning about the history of foods. Being so dense a cake, I didn't think the cake could be catapulted even 100 feet, let alone 450!
Pierogi, some of my (weak) relatives did get a little whoozy last Christmas from this cake. I had mine with spiked eggnog, so double the whammy for me!
You are to kind PP, I claim no ownership to this method.
The next christmas bread you should try is panettone or the best christmas cookie Ricciarelli
I like the way you think, eggnog it is. Got a good recipe, sorry for keep bugging you, but I tried a couple from recipe.com and didn't like them.
Southern Comfort eggnog! I've made my own before and it was delicious, but it's so much cheaper to buy! Love your sushi cancels eggnog idea, Pierogi! It's like my "ice cream has milk in it, so therefore I'm getting my daily value's worth of calcium." BTW, bug me anytime! I'm jealous you're enjoying stollen right now!
Ricciarelli.I am ready chef, can you give up the recipes?