NMMR*: Cream Cheese Fruitcake

Happy Birthday D1!  I am eagerly anticipating your homecoming.  It's been months since I've seen you, and while some might think separation gets easier as time passes, I don't think that's really true.  Not a day goes by without me thinking about you. . .what you are doing, how your classes are going, how much $ you are spending, etc.

Same with my mom.  Not a day goes by when I don't think about her and how much I miss her.  Sure, the rest of us are plodding along; I would even go as far as to say we've actually got some routine going.  But it isn't much easier now.  The pain has not gone away.  A co-worker told me it won't ever go away, but it just becomes more bearable as time passes.  We'll see.

One thing that my mom during the holidays every year, as far back as I can remember, is bake fruitcake.  Her fruitcake was called "light" or "white" fruitcake; it is not the kind of fruitcake which comes in the metal can.  That type is laden with fruits and is more fruit than cake.  My mom's fruitcake was definitely more cake than fruit.  The cake was dense, similar (but not identical) to a poundcake in texture.  It was more dense, actually.

And I never liked it (sorry, Mom).

My mom's fruitcake was too intense for me.  Her siblings in town actually loved her fruitcake.  In fact, I would always hear UJohn ask her when she was going to make it.  I much preferred it when, on rare occasion, she strayed and made a more poundcake-like version.  In hindsight, I think she made it so she could say how much she preferred her version.

There will be none of my mom's fruitcake this year.  At least no rendition of it will come from my kitchen.  Instead, I will be making the fruitcake I like.  My fruitcake is like the "other" version which my mom would make, the one with the poundcake texture and flavor, studded here and there with bits of candied fruit (I fondly recall Pennant brand in the tubs) and pecans (Mom used walnuts).  There will also be no raisins.  One thing I remember was my mom adding whiskey to the batter.  My recipe has no whiskey, but I highly recommend generously brushing the finished loaves with rum.  The rum will add a nice flavor and help keep the cake moist.  My friend Sid's mom would actually soak cheesecloth in whiskey or rum and wrap each loaf in the alcohol-soaked cheesecake prior to wrapping in plastic.

Oh, I'm certain my mom's family will ask if I plan to carry the fruitcake-making torch.  I will politely shake my head.  No point in leading them on only to end up with unfulfilled expectations.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Cream Cheese Fruitcake

     1 c butter
     8 oz cream cheese
     1 1/2 c sugar
     1 tbsp vanilla extract
     1 tsp almond extract
     4 eggs
     2 1/4 c flour, divided
     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
     2 c assorted dried/candied fruit
     1/2 c chopped nuts
     1/4 c rum

Grease and flour 5 mini loaf pans (cut parchment to fit bottom) or 1 tube pan.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Beat butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add 2 c flour and baking powder.  In a separate bowl, toss 1/4 c flour, fruit, and nuts until all coated.  Fold into batter.  Pour batter into prepared pan(s).  If using mini loaf pans, a little more than 3 #10 dishers will go into each pan.  Bake for 45 minutes (mini loaves) or 1 hour and 20 minutes (tube pan).  Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and set on wire rack.  Brush top and sides of cake with rum.  Cool completely then wrap with plastic wrap.

*NMMR=Not My Mother's Recipe

Cranberry Sauce

I have been trying very hard to lay off D1, but I have been so frustrated with her.  I know she is stressed out about college applications, but sistah, you gotta get your act together!  As of last week, she applied to O-N-E college, and it's not even a college she totally wants to go to.  I think she applied because the application fee was cheap.  One would think that for $60k/year, they could at least waive the fee!  While I hope she gets accepted (to boost her confidence), I fucking hope she won't go there.  It's in the middle of the boonies, and they don't even field a football team which plays on TV!  She spent days on her application.  I wish she would've spent the time on applying to schools she WANTS to attend (the ones I'm okay with also).  I just don't get her screwed up thinking.  A sane person would apply to the college they really want to attend FIRST, and then apply to the "safety" colleges.

When I was applying to colleges, I just applied to a bunch too, so I really can't get upset at her for that.  But I knew that I would've gone to all the colleges I applied to and I also knew my parents were willing to pay the $ for me to get outta their house (at least for four years).  I haven't even told Mr. Dependable where she applied to because I KNOW he would see dollar signs and hit the ceiling.  The Help has nothing to say.  He applied to one college, got accepted, went there, and got his degree.  End of story. 

So to keep from bitching at her constantly, I'm reminding myself that this will likely be the last Thanksgiving D1 spends with us for a while.  I need to make the most of it, put on a happy face, and give her a day of peace (grumbling resumes on Black Friday).

This year for Thanksgiving, I'm planning to roast a whole turkey breast.  After the easy clean up last year, I'd be a fool to go back to a whole turkey if it's just my family.  I'll make the dressing (yes, Mike, I'm baking it in a separate dish), gravy, and mashed potatoes too.  I'm ono for pumpkin crunch, so I'll make that instead of pumpkin pie.  But the first thing I'm making is the cranberry sauce.  Homemade cranberry sauce is so much better than what the stores sell (Williams-Sonoma comes pretty close to homemade).  It doesn't take very long to make so the effort is well worth it.

I hope by the next post I will be able to say D1 applied to a few more colleges.  ARGGGHHH!

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Cranberry Sauce

     1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries
     1 1/2 c sugar
     4 1/2 oz water
     1/2 tsp grated ginger
     1 1/2 c (12 oz jar) orange marmalade

Heat cranberries, sugar, water, and ginger in a saucepan, stirring until sugar melts.  Cook until fruit is tender, 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes.  Stir in marmalade.  Chill until 2 hours before serving. 

Mini Cream Cheese Cherry Fruitcake

I'm finally on vacation.

It seemed like vacation would never get here!

Just a few more days until Christmas.

I hope I didn't forget any gifts.

I THINK I'm done with my Christmas shopping.

I try to bake at least 1 batch of humbug holiday cookies with the Ds, but it looks like time isn't on our side this year.  We normally have at least half a week before Christmas to bake cut-out cookies, but vacation began too late.  Maybe we'll be able to bake something for Valentine's Day.

Instead of cookies with the Ds, I had to settle for some by-myself baking.  I chose to make mini cream cheese cherry fruitcake because I knew neither of the Ds would be too disappointed about missing out on this.

Fruitcake isn't something many people are often enthused about, but everyone (adults) enjoys the local version of fruitcake.  The fruitcake we know and like is actually a pound cake with a spattering of candied fruits.  It is not the type you find at Trader Joe's. . . mostly fruit bound together with tiny bits of cake.

There are a handful of people around here who make a more traditional kind of fruitcake.  Last Christmas, one of The Helps clients gave him a fruitcake which was a deep, dark brown.  It tasted very much like prune mui, and it had a tar-like texture.  She told him it was her specialty.  My friend A's mom makes a steamed fruitcake, which is dark, although not as dark the one I previously mentioned.  Kikukat Mom makes something called "light fruitcake".  While not steamed, it has a tan color which is different from the pictures you see here.  And I'm sorry mom, but I don't like the fruitcake you make.  Like the two aforementioned varieties, it is dense and unappealing (to me!).  The cream cheese variety is much more to my liking.

And I just remembered. . .I haven't bought anything for The Rents.  I guess I'm NOT done with my Christmas shopping.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Mini Cream Cheese Cherry Fruitcake

     8 oz cream cheese, softened

     1 c butter, softened

     1 1/2 c sugar

     4 eggs

     1 1/2 tsp vanilla

     2 1/4 c flour, divided

     1 1/2 tsp baking powder

     3/4 c candied cherries, cut in half

     1/2 c pecans, coarsely chopped

Grease and flour 5 mini loaf pans.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  In a separate bowl, stir together 2 c flour and baking powder.  Gradually add to cream cheese mixture.  Toss remaining flour (1/4 c) with cherries and nuts.  Fold into batter.  Divide batter evenly among prepared pans.  Bake 45-50 minutes.  Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.  Cool completely.

The best fruitcake in the world is made in Hanapepe, Kauai, by Mrs. Nozaki, a retired hairdresser.  Her fruitcake is outstanding!  I have been fortunate enough to receive quantities of it over the years from her son.  Unlike this recipe, which contains nuts, Mrs. Nozaki's cake only has cherries in it, and the cake's flavor is enhanced by the whiskey-soaked cheesecloth enveloping the loaf.  I haven't received Mrs. Nozaki's cake this year yet, but I'm hoping her son bought out Safeway's supply of candied cherries so he can bake several batches.

Congratulations to D2 who received an award at her school!  I'm disappointed I wasn't able to make it to the presentation (I had a Charles Dickens function in my classroom.), and I am grateful The Help represented me.  D2 tries so hard, and it was nice that she was recognized for her effort.

Congratulations are also due to the HHS varsity boys basketball team.  The took first place in the St. Joseph School's Cardinal Classic.  They won a 67-64 nailbiter against crosstown rival Waiakea.  With hardly any time remaining in overtime, and the score tied 64-64, star guard Jalen Carvalho (nephew of my good buddy SF) hit a 3-pointer to win the game for the Viks.  It was awesome.  Jalen is beast, but the whole team worked hard for the victory.  Best wishes to them as they hit the skies this week to participate in a pre-season tourney in San Diego.

And for my weekly rant. . .where the fuck do they find the refs in this town?  Be it football or basketball, they are all horrible.  What a bunch of blind idiots in stripes!  One of the refs at the basketball game spent more time talking stories with a coach than watching the players.  Auwe!!!

While I began my vacation this weekend, The Help got busy.  Of course, I went along as "assistant". . .underpaid and overworked (me, not The Help).  The Help did a session for Maria at Short N Sweet, a local bakery.  Maria is the designer of D1's birthday cake.  The bakery was hired to do an afternoon tea for a local beauty business.  While Short N Sweet has been doing afternoon tea for a while, Maria had no pictures of past events so she asked The Help to help her capture the event (food-wise).  I think she will be happy with the images.  She was kind enough to give us some goodies. . .gougeres and a flaky mushroom turnover.  OMG!  The Empress Hotel has nothing on Short N Sweet when it comes to tea!

And for the first time in nearly a decade, I got to eat fried kole (yes, we really do eat this fish. . .much to my horror, the top hits for "kole tang" were aquaria websites, not delicacy websites).  3M texted me on Saturday morning and reminded me about the RBI concession.  Mmmmmmmmm.  The fried kole was so yummy that I sent The Help back down to the Boys & Girls Club of Hilo baseball field for another plate!  I hope they will put me on their speed dial whenever they have fried kole at their concession.

deep-fried kole

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was so close!  I saw some kind of Taste of Home post on Facebook and I had to actually run to the calendar to see for myself.  No shit!!!

The work week this week is only 3 (2 by the time this is published) days, but short weeks tend to drag on, and the kids are totally gone.  Adults too.

But in a few days it will be Thanksgiving, and that gives me something to look forward to.  Its not just the break from work.  I love Thanksgiving food.  I love all the white meat from the turkey and all that you can do with the leftovers. The other big deal about Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce.  I love cranberry sauce, and I think Williams-Sonoma makes the best.  I need to check the pantry to see if I have any left.  One year, I made my own cranberry sauce, and it was unreal sour.  Since then, I've left the cranberry sauce to the experts.

It doesn't seem right to have cranberry sauce outside of the holiday season, so I don't make anything with cranberry sauce beyond the holidays, however dried cranberries are fair game year-round.  I keep a Costco-sized bag of dried cranberries on hand.  The Ds sprinkle li hing mui powder on it and eat it as a snack.  I love to use dried cranberries in recipes as a substitute for raisins.

While cranberry orange biscotti recipes abound, the recipes I tried lacked orange flavor.  Bummer.  In my experiments with biscotti making, I came across a recipe which included a topping.  After tinkering with the ingredients, I came up with a recipe which has the pronounced orange flavor I was looking for - its in both the biscotti and the topping.  In addition to cranberries and orange flavor, this biscotti gets its crunch from chopped marcona almonds. 

This biscotti is a little trickier to make than my previous biscotti recipe because of the baked-on topping.  This biscotti needs to be sliced very carefully with a serrated knife.  Using too much pressure will cause the topping to pop off.   I suppose you could leave the topping off, but the orange flavor would be less prominent.

just after the first bake

slicing biscotti using a serrated knife

getting ready for the second bake

 click on recipe title for printable recipe.
Cranberry Orange Biscotti

     1/4 + 2/3 c sugar, divided

     2 tbsp + 1 tsp orange juice, divided

     6 tbsp butter, softened

     zest of 1 orange

     2 eggs

     1/2 tsp almond extract

     1/2 tsp vanilla extract

     2 c flour

     1 tsp baking powder

     1/2 c dried cranberries, chopped

     1/2 c marcona almonds, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine 1/4 c sugar and 1 tsp orange juice.  Mixture will be rather dry.  Set aside.  Grease 2 biscotti pans or line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cream butter and remaining 2/3 c sugar.  Add 2 tbsp orange juice, zest, eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Add cranberries and nuts.  Shape dough into 2 2" wide rectangles in/on prepared pan(s).  Using half of sugar/orange juice mixture for each loaf, pat onto top of each rectangle, taking care not to spill any on baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, slice 1/2" on the diagonal.  Place on a cut side and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  Flip over to other side and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE:  Cranberry Orange Biscotti would make an excellent snack for Black Friday shopping, that is, if you choose to indulge in that sport.  After the stampeding sounds in Wal-Mart last year, I will be staying home.  There is no need for me to be in the throng of people.  I'm sure the Ds will be home too.  I know neither were happy last year.  I just hope Kikukat Mom's curiosity about Black Friday shopping was cured last year too. 

Cookie Jar: Spooky Pinwheel Cookies

It's almost Halloween!  Yippee!  I love Halloween!  I love the idea that candy will be marked down with a deep discount as soon as Halloween is over.  I can buy my fill of Twix and Three Musketeers!  That's the best part about Halloween.

One tradition we have in Hale o Kikukat is baking cookies during fall intersession.  That didn't happen this year because the Ds and I both took trips during intersession.  Luckily, the Ds stayed with me for the weekend after intersession (Mr. Dependable told me he had to work golf in Kona) so we were able to do our Halloween cookie baking.

D2 wanted to make Hoot Owl Cookies (she has been asking about this for a while), but I didn't think there would be enough for the kids to "help" if we did the owls.  Inspired by Pinterest, I wanted to try making pinwheel cookies.  After checking out a bunch of recipes, I settled on the dough for one of my trusty sugar cookie recipes and just changed the procedure to make the spirals.

If you prefer soft cookies, you can make the rope shorter than 12" before coiling.  But if you are like me and prefer a crunchier cookie, its very important to hold to the 12" length before beginning the coil.  A bunch of the spiral cookie pictures on Pinterest feature thicker cookies.  They look neater than the ones we made, but I'm guessing they weren't crunchy.  Any leftover dough (or if you get tired of rolling the dough into ropes) can be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters.  You can find the procedure and baking times for the cut-out cookies here.

Turned out only D2 helped me with the cookie baking.  D1 recused herself and spent the time in her room.  I'm thinking that was a blessing in disguise.  D2 loves making and decorating cookies, while D1, being a taskmaster, just wants to get things done.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Spooky Pinwheel Cookies

     1/2 c butter, softened
     1/2 c sugar
     1 egg
     1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
     2 c flour
     2 tsp baking powder
     food coloring:  yellow, orange, black
     non-pareils

Combine flour and baking powder.  Set aside.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and extract and mix well.  Add dry ingredients.  Divide dough into 3 parts.  Tint each part a different color.  Shape colored dough into a flat brick and chill for 30 minutes.  Divide each color of dough into 24 pieces.  Shape each piece into a cylinder 1" long.  Place 2 cylinders of dough next to each other.  Add 3rd cylinder on top.  Roll together to form a 2" cylinder.  Chill for 10 minutes.  Remove 1/4 of cylinders from refrigerator.  Roll into a rope 12" long.  Then twist from one end.  Coil cylinder, taking care to keep center flat.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Chill while preparing remainder of cookies.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Roll edges of cookies in non-pareils.  Bake for 19 minutes.  Place cookies on cooling rack to cool.

Mini Cupcakes with Kick Ass Frosting (for Halloween and Anytime)

Halloween will be here soon.  A few weeks ago when we were in Honolulu, both Uncle Kevo and Aunty Renee suggested Party City in Iwilei as THE place to get Halloween costumes.  Aunty Renee said it was much easier to navigate through than the branch in Waikele, and she was right.  In spite of people congregating in the aisles, there was still ample room to pass (not like KTA!). We only had to go there twice for D2 to select her costume.  D1 and I ended up buying things too.

I always stress over what to send with the Ds (when D1 was younger) for class treats.  When I was younger and optimistic, I tried to send pencil and eraser packs instead of candy.  Now that I'm older and wiser, I send what D2 can easily carry.  Last year she took mini bags of popcorn.  I'm not sure what she will be taking this year.  While I'd love to send her with these cupcakes, I don't think she would appreciate having to carefully transport them.  Too bad because I know her teacher would love them.  I'm not even thinking about her classmates!

I first got the idea for these from my niece Jacy.  She posted a pic on Facebook of some micro cupcakes she made in the ketchup-sized cups (1 oz).  It was Jacy who sternly warned me about not going beyond half-full when filling the portion cups.  Thinking that a micro-cupcake was too small, I decided to use the 2 oz cups.  I took these to a work meeting, and they were a hit.  People ooohhed and aaaahhhed when they saw them, and once they took a bite, I was bombarded with questions.

I was outed!  I was forced to admit that I used cake mix from a box (Betty Crocker golden vanilla in the pics).  Feeling rather shitty, I retreated to my office to hang my head.  I noticed an email was waiting for me.  It was from one of the bosses.  FarcK!!!  Now what???  To my surprise, she asked me for the frosting recipe, deeming it "kick ass".  She said cake is really not worth eating unless it has frosting.  I had to agree.  She also asked how to make the cupcakes in the portion cups.  When we got to the filling part, I explained, "half full".  She then called me an optimist.  Hah!!!  I didn't dare tell her my reaction to seeing her name in my inbox!  I just repeated, "half full".

Happy Halloween!  And thank you, Jacy.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Mini Cupcakes

     1 box cake mix, any flavor
     33-40 2 oz. paper portion cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or whatever the box says).  Prepare cake mix according to directions on box.  Fill each paper portion cup half full.  Do not fill any more!  Place filled cups on a baking sheet.  Bake 15-19 minutes (depending on cake mix).  Remove to rack to cool.  Frost when completely cool.

Kick Ass Frosting

     1 c milk
     1/4 c flour
     1 c butter, softened
     1 1/2 tsp extract
     1 c  + 2 tbsp powdered sugar, sifted

Combine milk and flour in a small saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until thick. Remove from heat and cool completely.  Cream butter until light and fluffy.  Add cooled milk mixture and blend well.  Add extract.  In 3 batches, add powdered sugar.  Beat 10 minutes or until frosting comes together.