Miss Jean wrote:
> "Steve Wertz" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>On 22 Nov 2003 03:36:05 GMT, ospam (DJS0302) wrote:
>>
>>
>>>We had another dog when I
>>>was younger and one time during the winter when there was snow on the
>
> ground my
>
>>>mom threw out an old fruitcake for the birds. Well the birds never got
>
> the
>
>>>fruitcake. Our dog ate the whole thing except the red candied cherries.
>>
>>Why did your mom wait? A fruitcake doesn't have to be old for it to
>>be thrown out.
>>
>>For all those people considering passing out fruitcakes for Christmas:
>>
>>PLEASE... DON'T.
>>
>>It's so hard to put on a Happy Face when receiving one of those, and
>>it sucks having to throw it away and have a well-meaning gift go to
>>waste.
>>
>>What sucks even more is when the person who gave it to you comes over
>>the next day and sees it in the trash can. Try explaining that!
>>"Uhh, it must have fell of the counter..." (opening the cabinet under
>>the sink on it's way down there).
>>
>>It's a simple request - bake some cookies instead. Please.
>>
>>-sw
>
>
> This will be the first of my 38 Christmases during which there will be no
> fruitcake baked by either my mother or me. My mother's fruitcake recipe has
> been part of our family holidays all my life. She got the recipe from her
> sister before she died, and she has since passed it on to me. It's a dark
> cake, with a great deal of fruits and nuts and is definitely different than
> the storebought varieties. However, it has gotten very expensive to make-
> nearly $50 for ingredients alone- and my spouse and I and my parents are
> really the only ones in the family who like it, and we can't eat a whole one
> before tiring of it, so we made the decision this year to not make one. It's
> kind of sad, really. I'll be making an extra prune cake instead. Now THAT is
> a fabulous cake. I'll type in the recipe before long, and post it here.
I don't know if your recipe is anything like the one I posted earlier
today, but you can reduce the cost quite a bit by using dried fruit instead
of candied fruit -- except for the cherries of course. I can buy a 9 or 10
ounce bag of sweetened dried pineapple pieces at wal-mart for about $1.69,
and it works as well (or better) than expensive glase' pineapple. Dried
apricots cut into tidbits are good, and chopped prunes, dates, and raisins
are also sweet enough to substitute for a lot of the candied fruit.
If there's just a few of you that like it, you could make a half a batch of
fruitcake and cook it in a loaf pan. I think that's what I would do.
Best regards,
Bob