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  From Our Kitchens to Yours

  We couldn’t let you leave town without sharing recipes for some of our favorite holiday treats. A heartfelt Merry Christmas from your Pine River friends.

  Bernadette’s Banana Bread Fruitcake

  (makes one loaf)

  Ingredients:

  1 3/4 cups flour

  2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1/3 cup butter

  2/3 cup sugar

  2 eggs

  1 cup mashed banana

  3/4 cup golden raisins

  3/4 cup chopped candied cherries

  3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

  3/4 cup chopped walnuts

  Directions:

  Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, butter, eggs and bananas and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F. Remove when pan is cool and set on wire rack until completely cool.

  Chocolate Cherry Chunk Fruitcake

  Created by the real-life Janet Kragen

  Ingredients:

  One 16-ounce package candied cherries (about 2 rounded cups)

  Bottle of crème de cacao

  3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  1/3 cup Ghirardelli ground chocolate/cocoa

  1 teaspoon ground cardamom

  1 1/2 cups softened butter (no margarine!)

  1 3/4 cups sugar

  6 eggs

  1/3 cup milk

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  One 10 oz. package of Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet

  chocolate chips

  One 11 oz. package of Ghirardelli classic white chocolate chips

  (Or buy the weights and chop the bars in order to have some irregularity in the chocolate pieces.)

  1 to 1 1/2 cup shelled roasted pistachios (green)

  Directions:

  Combine cherries and ⅓ cup crème de cacao in a bowl and soak several hours or overnight.

  Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease and flour pans: one batch fills one large Bundt pan or 2 large bread loaf pans. Sift flour, baking powder, cocoa and cardamom on waxed paper. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs.

  Stir in flour mixture alternately with milk and vanilla, beating until smooth after each addition.

  Stir in fruit mixture, nuts and chocolate chunks with a spoon. Bake for two hours in a Bundt pan and for 1 hour and 45 minutes in two loaf pans. Test with a knife. Make sure the fruitcake is completely baked! Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool.

  Wrap cooled cake in cheesecloth. Use pastry brush to coat whole cake liberally with crème de cacao. Wrap in foil.

  Store 3 to 4 weeks—or much longer—in refrigerator or unheated garage in wintertime.

  Check every week or so, and re-soak cloth if it dries out. Use a pastry brush to add more crème de cacao.

  Heat before serving. Serve with whipped cream. Add a little crème de cacao to the cream before whipping it—don’t add anything else!

  Livi’s Candy Cane Cookies

  Courtesy of Pat Greco

  Ingredients:

  5 1/2 cups flour

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  Dash of salt

  3 eggs

  1/2 pound butter

  1 cup sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  3/4 cup milk

  Directions:

  Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well. Add vanilla and milk and mix again.

  Sift dry ingredients and add to mixture. Dough will be stiff and sticky. Work the dough with well-floured hands and knead well. Roll each cookie in rope form about 4 inches long and tuck in end to form a rounded candy cane shape. Bake at 400°F for 12 to 14 minutes. When cool, frost with a thin icing and decorate with colored sprinkles.

  Livi’s Eggnog Coffee Cake

  Ingredients:

  1 1/2 cups flour

  2 tablespoons baking powder

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  3/4 cup sugar

  1/4 cup butter

  1 egg

  1/2 cup eggnog

  1 cup chopped candied cherries

  For Streusel:

  1/2 cup brown sugar

  2 tablespoons flour

  2 teaspoons cinnamon

  2 tablespoons butter, melted

  1/2 cup chopped walnuts

  Directions:

  Cream sugar, butter and egg. Sift in dry ingredients and add chopped cherries and eggnog. If the batter seems too dry you can add a little more eggnog. Spread half of the batter on a greased 9 by 9 square pan. Add half the streusel mixture, sprinkling evenly. Add remaining batter. Sprinkle top with remaining streusel and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

  ISBN-13: 9781488056109

  Christmas from the Heart

  Copyright © 2019 by Roberts Ink LLC

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