MAC sent us a fruitcake!

MAC's fruitcake
Originally uploaded by Larry13.

Margaret makes "real" fruitcake; it's nothing like the cheap store kind. Hers is filled with spices, nuts and real dried fruits, baked a month in advance and then stored away, wrapped in brandy-soaked flannel, while the flavors meld into pure deliciousness.

This year, we were thrilled to discover a box on our doorstep which, when opened, revealed one of Margaret's famous fruitcakes! Ahhhhh.

Here's her recipe, if you'd like to try making some yourself:

6 C flour
I heap the following spices:
4 teas cinnamon
1 teas nutmeg
1 teas gr allspice
1 teas cloves
I measure generously:
4C chopped dried apricots (sulfured have a much better color)
2 c raisins
2C dried cranberries
2C chopped dates
2C pecans
2C walnuts
2C dried chopped pineapple
2C dried tart cherries
If the eggs are pullet eggs, add an extra:
8 eggs
3 ½ C brown sugar
2 C orange juice
1 ½ C melted butter
1/2C honey
Mix spices and flour. Beat eggs ‘til foamy, add sugar, honey, juice and butter. Add flour if you have room in the beater bowl. If not, put the rest of the flour in with the fruit. I often throw a jar of last year’s jam to use it up, but don’t put in blackberry---makes it a yucky color! Mix the wet ingredients in with all the fruit. Grease pans and line with waxed paper. Makes 10 cakes. Cook the smaller ones for 1 ½ hours, the larger for 2 hours at 300 degrees. Peel the cakes while they are hot. Wrap them in heavy flannel soaked in brandy. Slop on more brandy as you wrap them up in foil. Make by Thanksgiving to age ‘til Christmas. If you have any left over, they will keep a year, periodically slop with more brandy.