{ Christmas Fruit Cake }

 It's that time of the year.  By now, if you're going to be making Fruit Cakes for Christmas, you need to start baking them or at the very least figuring getting all your ingredients ready to go.  The sooner you make them, the better they turn out.

I actually made my first in October, and today I made another two.  I'm using a completely different recipe, one which I got from one of my favorite vloggers Helen from Wright At Home on Youtube.

This is her grandmother's recipe, and I truly believe that the best recipes are those handed down from generation to generation.  Too often I see people trying to create shortcuts or substitute this for that ingredient in an attempt to make things more glamorous, but it doesn't always turn out well.  It's been my experience that the simplest of ingredients and the simplest of recipes are often the best ones.

This was my first time using Helen's recipe, and I think it may just become my go to and favorite for the holidays.

Christmas Fruit Cake

Source: Helen Wright

200 gr flour
200 gr butter
200 gr sugar (I used half light brown sugar and half white)
4 eggs
800 gr fruit
half tbsp salt
4 tbsp spice and cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


In a bowl, mix all the ingredients, until well incorporated.  I used my kitchenaid which made it easier to mix everything.

Line a cake pan.  The recipe didn't specify the size, but I used a round 8 inch pan for mine.  Make sure to line the bottom and sides of the pan.  Most fruit cakes require you to then wrap the pan in newspaper or brown paper and tie it, but this recipe didn't say to do that.

I was wondering if it would affect the bake, but it didn't and it baked up beautifully.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for one hour and a half to two hours.  The cake is ready when you insert a wooden skewer and it comes out completely dry.  Helen actually makes it a point to say that is what her grandmother used to say, so it needs to be absolutely dry which will help it keep for a long time once it's out of the oven.

Once baked, removed from oven and allow to cool completely, then poke holes with a wooden skewer and pour over either whiskey, brandy or rum. 

I use rum in my cakes, that's our preference.  There really is no measurement but if you need to measure then I would say about 2 tablespoons or so.

Allow it soak in, then double wrap the cake in saran plastic wrap, then double layer of aluminum foil.  You can keep the cakes in a tupperware cake box, or as they are, but keep them out of sunlight and in a dark spot.  I keep my cakes in the pantry.

Every week, until Christmas, unwrap them and feed them again with more drink of your choice.  These cakes will keep for a really long time.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Crinkles

I've been in the kitchen for the past few days, just baking cookies.  It's something I always used to do when the kids were smaller, but the past few years haven't really had the time to do.  Or rather, didn't have the motivation with everything else that was going on in my life.

It's been nuts, plain and simple.

I fear I've failed miserably at updating my food blog and it's quite sad, because it used to be one of my favorite things to do.....share recipes, show you what I was eating, and also having an online place to keep all our family favorites.  Anyway, it's life, it is what it is, but I do hope that next year I can make a come back on both my blogs.

Now that, that is out of the way, let's move right on to Christmas baking and more specifically Cookies.  I have a few recipes to share with you, starting with these.  If you love Chocolate, you are going to be in absolute heaven.

These Chocolate Crinkles are amazing and super easy to make.

You'll notice in the recipe that you need to refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours, but you can certainly do it overnight, just DO NOT skip that part because it's imperative for the crinkles to come out perfect.

Also, the recipe says it will make about 40 cookies, but I got 70 out of one batch.  So I guess it depends on the size of the cookie balls you're going to form.

Chocolate Crinkles

Source:  Food 52

Makes about 40 cookies

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa, granulated sugar, and vegetable oil.
Beat in eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla.

In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; then stir into the cocoa mixture.
Cover the dough and let cool in fridge for at least 4 hours. (This step is incredibly important to get the crinkles in the cookies)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and roll dough into 1-inch balls.

Coat each ball with confectioners sugar before placing on the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool and enjoy!

Homemade Mincemeat Pies!!!

Mincemeat Pies, for me one of the staples of Christmas food.  For others, gag worthy.  Truly, I've met people who think they are absolutely vile to eat.  I however love them and grew up with them in South Africa, thing is, here in the States they are not very well known and you can't find them as easily available as back home, or in England for instance.

Another thing that seems to turn people off these little pies, is that they seem to think that they are very hard to make at home, but I'm here to tell you that it really is not and they taste so much better than store bought.

You can also make the filling at home, though I usually buy the big jar.  I'm pretty certain that homemade is way tastier too but I haven't had the chance to try that yet, maybe next year.

Anyway, I got the recipe for the pastry from one of my favorite Youtubers, Rebecca from Percy and Grace.  This is such a quick and easy recipe and the result is a buttery tasty flaky dough, perfect for these pies.

The recipe IS in grams and I'll see if I can convert it for you all, but I would highly suggest getting a kitchen scale that uses both grams/kilos and ounces/pounds, they are a life saver, really.

Homemade Mincemeat Pies

Source:  Percy and Grace

This recipe makes 12 mince pies but you could just increase or decrease the quantities to make more or less mince pies.

280g plain flour (about 2 and a 1/3 cups)
195g softened unsalted butter (about 3/4 cups)
95g caster sugar (white sugar)
2 medium eggs
1 large jar of mincemeat
Icing sugar for dusting (powdered sugar)



In a bowl, add the flour and the butter, mix with your fingertips or a knife to get a crumbly mixture. Add in one egg and mix well, dump onto a floured surface and fold the pasty dough over itself a few times, knead a little until it comes together well, try not to overmix though.

Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius/425 Farenheit.

Roll out your dough to about 3mm about an 1/8th of an inch. Using a big cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles. Butter a muffin pan, and pop one circle in each, then press and mold to size. Drop in 1 and a half tablespoons of mincemeat filling.

Beat the other egg, and using a pastry brush, brush the edges of the pies. Roll out the dough again, cut out another 12 circles, top each pie with a circle, pressing down to seal. Glaze with the rest of the egg, sprinkle on some sugar and make a cut in the middle of each pie.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until nice and golden. Let cool and then pop them out of the pan and dust with icing sugar.

To store, place them in an airtight container, they will keep for about a week, but you can also freeze them for up to 3 months.

Enjoy!!!