Here they are!And I'm serious about these cookies. I don't usually eat regular fruit cake, but these cookies are scrumptious!
CHRISTMAS COOKIES
1 -1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
4 large eggs
3 cups sifted plain (all purpose) flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons milk
1 pound white (golden) raisins
1 pound chopped candied cherries
1 pound chopped candied pineapple
1 pound pitted, chopped dates
6 cups pecans, chopped fine
1/2 cup orange juice
Cream sugar and butter lightly. Beat eggs, add to sugar mixture. Sift 2 cups flour with soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to creamed mixture. Add milk. Sift 1 cup flour over chopped fruit, raisins and pecans; mix well; add this mixture to other ingredients, and then add orange juice. Mix well. Drop from teaspoon by small amounts onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in slow (325 degree) oven. Watch closely while cooking as cookies burn easily. THESE COOKIES MAY BE FROZEN AND KEPT FOR MONTHS. Yield: About 300 cookies.
My 11 yr. old son made a batch of these this afternoon. I have been eating them ever since (my bad!), but they are so good, even when you cheat and use the prepackaged candied 'fruit cake mix'instead of all the other candied fruits, skip the dates and use fewer pecans. But I did learn this afternoon that if you try to make them bigger than just the teaspoon full of dough, all they do is spread out on the pan. Thay look much nicer if you make them smaller.
OK here's the Golden Fruit Cake recipe again (sorry to glom onto the Cookie Recipe thread)
GOLDEN FRUIT CAKE
1 - 1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cups milk
1 teaspoon brandy extract (or use 1/4 cup brandy and reduce milk to 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 - 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 - 1/2 cups golden raisins
1 - 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup candied orange peel, chopped
1 cup pecans (or walnuts) coarsely chopped
Beat butter or margaarine until light and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Beat egg yolks together lightly and add. Combine milk, brandy (or extract) and vanilla. Mix 3 cups of the flour and salt together. Alternately add milk mixture and flour mixture to butter mixture. Toss fruits and nuts with the remaining 1/2 cup flour and fold into batter. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff but not dry. fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly. Pour mixture into two buttered and floured xix cup molds or 2 9 x 5 inch loaf pans (or into a bundt cake pan) Bake at 275 degrees for 2 - 1/2 hours or until it tests done. Cool in pan, then remove from pan.
I'll be making some this week and send one down to my family's Christmas party in MS on the 23rd. I can't be there, so I'll send dessert!