Drunken Fruit Bread

Lovey loves date nut bread to enjoy with his coffee in the mornings.  I can take it or leave it; I'm more of an eggs and bacon kind of gal.

 Lucille gave Lovey and me a basket of dried fruit for Christmas. It had dates, apricots, papaya, peaches, prunes, pineapple, and Angelino plums

As you can see, there aren't enough dates for a loaf of bread so I thought I'd make a bread with a combination of all the fruits.  I also decided to soak all of the fruits in booze for three days rather than the 30 minutes the recipe normally suggests.

I chopped up about 2 cups of the fruit combo to fit in a pint mason jar (I packed the jar fairly tight).  Then I grabbed a bottle of brandy and poured over the fruit until it reached the top. There wasn't quite enough brandy in my bottle so I used a little rum to fill the jar. You can use whatever booze you choose; brandy just seems to pair well with fruit.

Put the lid on tight, give the jar a gentle shake and place in a cool, dark place for three days.  If you think about it you can give the jar a shake each day.

After three days of soaking it's time to bake.  Butter the bottom of the pan line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.

 Butter the parchment and the sides of the pan then sprinkle with flour.  Set the pan aside.

This is a typical quick bread recipe where the butter and sugar are creamed

then the eggs and flavorings are added

 The flour and spice mixture is added in alternately with the liquids which, for this bread, include freshly squeezed orange juice and the brandy from the fruit.

 

The fruits and nuts are then stirred in by hand

The batter is turned into the pan, put into a 350° oven

and this is what you get after about an hour.

It's a dense but moist bread with a beautiful texture and flavor.

Rather than the typical flavor of a date nut bread  this had the distinct flavor of a fruit cake due to the different fruits used along with the dates.   And it is v-e-r-y boozy.  I liked it with a slathering of butter.

Drunken Fruit Bread
Yield 1 loaf

Ingredients:
2 cups dried fruit, coarsely chopped
Brandy
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

 Method:
 3 days prior to baking prepare the drunken fruit.  Chop all fruit and pack, somewhat tightly, into a pint Mason Jar.  Pour enough brandy into the jar to cover the fruit.  Secure lid tightly on to jar and store in a dark, cool place.

On baking day, preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare pan by buttering the bottom of an 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" x 2-1/2: loaf pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan.

Drain the brandy from the fruit into a measuring cup.  (if you have more of 1/3 cup brandy drained off, treat yourself and sip on it).  Combine with the orange juice.

In bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. with the mixer on low speed add the egg, vanilla and the orange zest.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.  With the mixer still on low, add the flour mixture alternately with the orange juice/brandy to the butter mixture, mixing only until combined.

Fold the fruit into the batter. Fold the pecans into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Bourbon Pecan Pie

  Since my young life the best tasting, can't beat, go-to recipe for pecan pie was the one on the label of Karo Dark Corn Syrup.

  About 12 years ago I ran across this recipe in an issue of Garden & Gun. Have used this recipe ever since.

There was a from-scratch recipe for the pie crust in the magazine. I have tried it and it is good,  but when in a crunch I use the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts.

My mother taught me to always let the pie sit for several minutes once I've poured it into the pie shell.  This give the pecans a little personal time to get situated and allows them to float to the top.

Bourbon Pecan Pie
Serves 8 - 10
Adapted from Garden and Gun magazine

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups dark corn syrup
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1-1/2 tsp. all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. bourbon
1-1/2 Tbsp. melted sweet butter
2 cups pecan halves

Mise en place:

• roll out the pie disk and fit in a 9-inch pie pan.  Crimp the edges and set aside
• preheat oven to 350°F.
• melt the butter
• crack eggs into a small bowl
• measure out sugar, corn syrup, salt and flour into a large mixing bowl
• measure out the vanilla and bourbon
• measure out pecans

Method:
Using a mixer, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, flour and the eggs, mixing well.  Using a wooden spoon, add the vanilla and bourbon to the mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Add the melted butter and pecan halves and stir to combine.  

Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Let sit for a few minutes to allow, if needed,  pecans to float to the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes (a toothpick inserted in center should come out relatively clean).  If the top of the pie and/or crust look like they are getting too brown during baking cover loosely with foil.

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack, allowing pie to rest for 2 to 3 hours to set.

*    I bake with an old heavy cookie sheet below the pie plate

*    The syrupy base makes about 3 cups of syrup

Pecan Squares

Several years ago I was performing some Saturday morning cleaning chores.  Ina Garten was keeping me company in the form of her Barefoot Contessa television show on The Food Network.  When I heard "...pecan bars..." I dropped my cleaning cloth, tripped over my cleaning bucket and found a seat in front of the TV.



I had about 30 pounds of pecan halves in the freezer and I was getting ready to learn how to use 2 of them.

Before I resumed my cleaning I looked through my copy of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook  and bingo....the recipe was in there.  I have been making her recipe ever since.

Beware...it's a fattening recipe, it is an expensive recipe; you want to invest in a good quality unsweetened butter and pecans are expensive these days (in Texas anyway).  Another important item to invest in is a good quality, professional half sheet baking pan (about 18" x 12" x 1").

It all begins with a shortbread crust

With so much butter, I cut mine up a little to begin the creaming process

Once the butter and sugar are nice and creamy add the eggs and vanilla

After you incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) you have this fluffy blob.

The shortbread dough will be sticky as you press into the pan.  Use a little flour on your hands and the dough.  Try to make a nice edge up the sides of the pan as well as making the bottom fairly thin.  You will need all the room you can muster up for the filling.

While the shortbread cools you can create magic with this stuff.

Place everything but the cream and pecans into a large, heavy saucepan.

Butter, honey, brown sugar, and citrus zest, boiling into that which will coat my arteries bind the pecans together; nom-nom-nom-nom-nom.

 After boiling for 3 minutes, remove the filling from the heat and stir in the cream. Don't overcook the filling.  You don't want it to get to a hard candy stage.

Then fold in the nuts

Pour your filling into the cooled shortbread crust.  Hopefully the nice edges you made will keep as much of the filling as possible from seeping underneath the crust.

It is a given that this will boil over so I would suggest to cover the lower rack in the oven with foil to catch the drips.

Bake until set, allow to cool and feel happy knowing that

this

plus

this

equals

this

Notes and  Comments: 

Baking sheet - for this whole recipe, please go out and purchase a half sheet professional baking sheet.  It is definitely deeper and a little wider than the normal jelly roll pan you may have in your cabinet.  Don't ask me why I know this is important; it was not a pretty sight.  On the other hand, the recipe does half well to use a smaller pan.

It looks like Ina Garten cuts her bars into 2" x 3" pieces.  I don't have a super sweet tooth and these are so rich that this size is way too large for me.  I cut them half that size.

Be sure your honey is of good quality, 100% raw and not a 'honey blend'.

Pecan Squares

From Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Makes 20 squares

For the Shortbread Crust

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1-1/4 pounds unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 extra large eggs

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mise en place:

• set butter on counter to reach room temperature
• measure sugar
• crack 3 eggs in a small bowl
• measure vanilla
• measure and combine flour, baking powder and salt into bowl and sift together

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the crust, beast the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, until light, approximately 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix well.  Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Press the dough evenly into an ungreased 18 by 12 by 1-inch baking sheet, making an edge around the outside.  It will be very sticky; sprinkle the dough and your hands lightly with flour.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned.  Allow to cool.

For the Filling

Ingredients:

1 pound unsalted butter

1 cup good honey

3 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp grated orange zest

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 pounds pecans, coarsely chopped

Mise en place:

• Place butter in large saucepan
• measure out honey and place in pan
• measure out brown sugar and add to pan
• zest the lemon and the orange and add to pan
• measure cream and set aside
• roughly chop pecans and set aside

Method:

Melt contents of saucepan over low heat until everything is melded, using a wooden spoon to stir.  Raise the heat and boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the cream and pecans.  Pour  over the crust, trying not to get the filling between the crust and the pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.  Cut into bars and serve.

If you want to be fancy and wrap individual bars for a gift you can dip one end of each bar in melted chocolate for a nice presentation.