December 6, 2001
from: Spike's and Jamie's Recipe Collection

Many of these recipes have not yet been added to the recipe web site, so you are getting a "sneak peak" of future additions. We hope you enjoy these recipes. Spike's comments are in []Brackets[].

Shalom, from 
Spike the Grate & Jamie the Webmistress

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[] There are recipes everywhere for Hanukkah and Christmas and New Year's Eve - and even for football games. I am not going to address those occasions. Our website has hundreds of holiday recipes, if you want to browse those, please do so and enjoy them. 

http://www.spike-jamie.com

[] December is here already. It is the season for several year-end and year-beginning celebrations. Hanukkah is December 10, Winter Solstice is December 21, Christmas is December 25, New Year's Eve, of course, is December 31. There are many celebratory dates during December, too numerous to mention. 

[] It appears to be fruitcake time. I make fruitcake every year. I understand and agree with all the stuff people say about fruitcake. My feelings on that matter include the thought that if I wanted to eat peelings, I'd rummage around in my garbage can. I hate peelings. I hate citron. I hate all that candied stuff. In my opinion, candied fruit is made with fruit that was inferior, and candying it is a way to disguise it. 

[] Last week I made 11 pounds of fruitcake. Made it the way I like it, with no peelings, no citron, and no candied (i.e.; inferior) fruit. It smelled wonderful, and after all that work and all that money, we discovered that something I had used was stale. It just tasted STALE. It was "for the birds," as it used to be said. I took it out of the pans and put it out for the birds. Even the crows wouldn't eat it. It was really awful. I think I had kept my shortening too long. That was a hard-earned lesson regarding the use of fresh Ingredients. My last trip to the grocery store included the purchase of fresh shortening, and the fruits and nuts I like to use in fruitcake, so I got to do it all again. It is quite lovely. []

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FRUITCAKE
Joy of Cooking, 1964 edition

In this recipe, the fruit is preconditioned, so it does not draw moisture from the cake during or after baking. Begin this process in the evening. Have all ingredients at about 75 degrees F. This makes about 11 lbs of fruitcake.

1 1/2 cups apricot nectar
2 1/2 cups seedless golden raisins (I just use a whole box)
2 1/2 cups seedless dark raisins (ditto)
1 cup pitted, chopped dates
1 cup diced dried pineapple (candied is okay in this instance, but dried 
is best)
1 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1 cup diced dried apricots
1 cup diced dried plums (prunes)
(modified original recipe which calls for candied cherries and 
candied apricots)

If you like, you can further modify this recipe to use other kinds of dried fruits. Guava is nice; mango is nice, dried apple is nice provided it does not include core or seeds, dried peach is nice - all that stuff is good. If I were going to use those kinds of fruits, I would reduce the amount of raisins so that the same whole amount of fruit will be used. There is a total of 10 cups of fruit in the recipe. You can divide that any way you like, just so you have 10 cups.

Place the above ingredients in a heavy pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let stand 12 to 15 hours (overnight is fine).

In the morning, set up your mixer for the batter.

Sift before measuring:
6 cups flour

Resift with:
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom ( I omit this because it is expensive )

Cream until light:
2 cups butter ( I use 1/2 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups shortening)
2 cups sugar ( I use 1 cup granulated and 1 cup brown sugar)

Add and beat in well:
10 beaten eggs

Add:
2 tbsp (yes, tablespoons) vanilla

Stir in the sifted flour mixture, mixing until well blended.

In a huge mixing bowl, combine the batter with the fruit and liquid in the pot, and add:
3 cups coarsely chopped pecans (I use walnuts)

Stir until well mixed. Pour into your pans and bake until done (see chart below). I like to use the little foil loaf pans. This recipe will fill 16 of them, using about 1 cup batter for each pan. I baked them at 275 deg. F. for about two hours. Use the toothpick method of testing for doneness. Cool thoroughly in the pans, then wrap in plastic, then in foil.

PAN SIZE BATTER TEMP BAKING TIME YIELD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11 x 4.5 x 2.75---recipe---275---2 1/2 hr-----3 loaf cake
9 x 5 x 3 loaf----recipe---275---3 hr---------3 loaf cake
10-inch tube------recipe---275---3 hr 15 min--2 tube cake 1-lb coffee 
cans--recipe---275---2 hr------4 small rnd cans
1/4 recipe in each can

4.5x2.5x1.5 loaf-recipe-275---2 hr-------16 small loaves 
1 cup each

5-oz custards----recipe-250---1 hr ---24 cupcakes
greased, but not lined; 1/2 cup each

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[] For those who want to make something that won't get stale, even after YEARS of lying in wait in coffee cans, there is a wonderful cookie that is so time-consuming to make that very few people in our modern, American society bother with it. I just finished the last of the batch that I had made in 1995. They seem to ripen, or something, as they wait to be enjoyed. This cookie is a great project for two or three people to make together. Those who have never made these cookies will need to find a specialty cookery shop, and purchase the special rolling pin that is required for springerle. 

[] The first step toward preparation of the recipe is to clean off all counter-tops in your kitchen, so as to make every horizontal surface available. That is not the fun part. Read the entire recipe, including narrative instructions, before you begin. Please note, ammonium carbonate often comes as a few chunks of white rocks. Scrape the rocks with a knife so as to get the flakes and/or powder that will blend nicely with the other ingredients. Please note further, that the small amount of oil of anise will give the entire recipe of cookies a very subtle and delicate hint of licorice. If you use more because it doesn't look like enough, you will be making an expensive mistake. Same goes for the ammonium carbonate.[] 

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SPRINGERLE

1/2 lb butter
4 lb powdered sugar
16 eggs
1/2 tsp ammonium carbonate (buy at pharmacy or specialty shop)
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp oil of anise (buy at pharmacy or specialty shop)
10 lb flour (yes, 10 pounds of flour)

Melt butter, pour into stand mixer, add sugar. Add whole eggs, one at a time, and then beat one hour. Add ammonium carbonate, salt, baking powder, and oil of anise. Mix well. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. When it outgrows your mixer bowl, put the dough onto a floured surface as though you were going to knead bread, and knead in the remaining flour. 

Take out a portion of dough about the size of a softball (grapefruit), and place it on the floured surface. Roll it with a regular rolling pin, to about 3/8 inch thickness, in a rectangular shape, about 10 inches wide. Then roll over it once with the springerle rolling pin. This rolling pin will mark squares on the dough, and will have pretty little Pennsylvanian-looking shapes in each square. Cut the individual cookies by cutting down on the square marks. Do not "saw," as though slicing, because it will distort the shapes of the cookies, and of the pretty designs.

Line all horizontal surfaces that you can use with waxed paper. As you cut out the panes of square cookies, place them on the waxed paper for overnight drying. 

In the morning, preheat your oven to 300 deg. F., and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 10 to 20 minutes. They will not actually brown, but they will turn a bit darker on the bottom and on the edges. They will puff up slightly on the tops. They will not spread on the pans. Cool thoroughly on racks.

This recipe should give you about 350 to 400 cookies.

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[] Last but not least, here is a wonderful fudge recipe, allegedly from See's Candy Company. []

SEES FUDGE CANDY 
(The "Original" Recipe!)

4 1/2 cups Sugar
3 pkg. Chocolate chips (12 oz ea)
1/2 lb. butter or margarine
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 can Evaporated milk
7 oz Marshmallow cream
2 cups Nuts (if desired)

Mix 4 1/2 cups sugar with one (1) can evaporated milk. Boil 7 to 8 minutes, stirring often. (rolling boil) Mix together in a large bowl; 3 packages chocolate chips, 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream, 1/2 lb. Melted butter. Cream butter and marshmallow together and add chocolate chips. Pour hot mixture over chocolate mixture. After chocolate has melted, add 2 cups of nuts and 1 tsp. of vanilla, blend well, pour into buttered pans (see note below), and chill in refrigerator. Cut into squares before firm. This recipe makes about 5 lbs of fudge. No one has attempted a calorie count, but it's estimated that each piece contains about 47 gazillion calories. Dieters, beware!

Note: I like to purchase the small foil cake or pie pans (about 4 inches diameter), and pour the warm fudge into them. Wrapped in colored plastic wrap, they make nice gifts for you friends and neighbors. Fudge makes an extremely nice gift for those whose outgrown clothes you covet! I admired the clothes worn by my pal, Joni, and told her if she outgrows them to bring them to me. She did just that. I thanked her, and told her to keep eating!

Historical Note: Given to Amy DeVore by Emma Julian c. 1930, this is "supposedly" the original recipe for See's Fudge, produced by the See's Candy Company, Los Angeles. Emma allegedly worked for See's and later owned her own candy store. (Spike the Grate does not know whether or not this is correct.)

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Have a pleasant December, whether in the snow or in the lower portion of our planet, where it is warm. Whatever our beliefs, we want to give thought to the future of our world, and think about getting along better with each other. Peace is possible, if we try. Our hopes for the new year include peace, love, under-standing, and contentment among all peoples.

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Shalom