This is the time of year I usually bake a lot of cookies. Nothing too fancy because even simple cookie recipes can be delicious and friends and neighbors are always delighted to receive them. Although I can’t eat them anymore because sugar inflames my joints, I enjoy the pleasure these sweet treats bring others. A vivid childhood memory is of the annual tin of cookies gifted to my parents from a caterer, Ingrid Slattberg, who had immigrated from Sweden and made delectable baked goods. Each tin contained 7 or 8 types of cookies including melt-in-your-mouth shortbread rimmed with colorful sprinkles, vanilla/chocolate swirled sables and everyone’s favorite—rolled lacy tuiles with a dab of light green frosting at each end. Ingrid shared her recipes but my recreations have never tasted quite as good as hers were in my memory. 

I have participated in cookie swaps (you bake a dozen cookies for each participant and go home with many varieties), mailed cookies, baked and bagged cookies for school bake sales, served platters of them at holiday gatherings and sent dozens to office parties. Along with the requisite envelope of cash, I annually gifted cookies to our building superintendents. The most recent super started to ask me every year around Thanksgiving, when he would be getting his annual “brownies.” They weren’t actually brownies at all but buttercrunch bars, also known as turtle bars, and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t enjoy them. I think I found the recipe on a package of Land O’ Lakes butter as a teenager and have been making them ever since. An older friend (who was an excellent baker) once sent me a Maida Heatter brownie recipe with a note that said “Make these and give them away immediately!” They were that scrumptious. My advice is the same in this instance. 

The recipe is a simple three step crust (flour, sugar, butter), filling (nuts covered with melted butter and sugar) and topping (chocolate chips that melt onto the hot filling topped crust). I increased the amount of filling and topping to make it more generous and added the amount of chocolate. Be careful not to cut the squares too large because this is a rich bar. No wonder it was promoted by a butter company! You can, and should, make a double recipe. 

BUTTERCRUNCH BARS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish (I use a Pyrex).

Crust:

• 2 cups flour (all purpose is standard you could use pastry or white whole wheat or a blend)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar

Mix until crumbly and pat down in prepared baking dish. 

Cover the crust with a layer of pecans (or walnuts-more economical).

Set aside. 

In a small saucepan combine:

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup (packed)brown sugar

Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until boiling. 

Boil one minute. 

Pour over reserved nuts/crust. 

Bake 20-22 minutes until bubbling. 

Take out of the oven and sprinkle immediately with 2-3 cups semi-sweet (or whatever type you prefer-milk, bittersweet, etc.)chocolate chips

Smooth with a knife or spatula or leave chips as they fall. 

Cool a few minutes and cut with a sharp knife, taking care not to mush the bars. 

Chill until chocolate is firm and finish cutting into squares. 

Store cooled bars in layers on waxed or parchment paper in covered tins or other lidded containers. 

Store up to one week(if you can resist eating them) or they can be frozen for a couple of months. The amount of bars will depend on the size you cut them.

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MIKE HELKE makes pots that are simultaneously fun and serious. He continuously challenges the traditional shapes of teapot, plate, pitcher, even bowls, cutting, moving and adding elements into reinventions we have to wrap our heads around. They are still recognizable as teapots, plates, pitchers and bowls but presented in new ways. The pieces are clever, appealing and useful! You can find Mike’s work in shops and galleries and at his website.

Fruitcake gets a bad rap for legitimate reasons. It can be dry and full of bitter bits of unidentifiable fruit and rinds. People generally have very strong feelings about fruitcake—either you love it or hate it. I was on the fence for years, thinking it looked attractive but not liking the dry, dense way it tasted. Then my friend Deborah introduced me to Sylvia’s fruitcake, a recipe Marian Burros adapted from food writer, editor and recipe developer Sylvia Shur and printed decades ago in The New York Times. It was full of soft, flavorful dried fruit and nuts, redolent with brandy and barely held together with a simple batter, more boozy fruit and nuts than cake. We made that fruitcake together for years right before Thanksgiving so it would have time to age and “ripen” from repeated feedings with said brandy over the course of a month to six weeks, often varying the fruit or nuts, depending on what we had procured.

With our kids grown and less time spent cooking in Deborah’s big kitchen, we stopped baking together. But every year around Thanksgiving, my husband starts asking if Deborah is sending us a fruitcake. Eventually Deb moved to an apartment and, sadly, the fruitcakes never again materialized. This year, as I started to think ahead to the holidays earlier than usual, desperate for a dose of holiday cheer, visions of fruitcakes started to dance in my head and I dug out the old recipe. You might think “why is she publishing a holiday recipe now?” Fruitcake takes time to cure so 2 months is not too long ahead to make it but even a few weeks will do, if you get a late start. For a stronger flavor, soak the fruit in a little brandy (or your liquid of choice) before adding the batter. Please note that if you (or someone for whom you are making the cake) can’t drink alcohol or you want to eat the cake for breakfast, apple, cranberry or orange juice is a decent substitution, although it won’t work as a preservative. If you don’t have any brandy or don’t like it, use rum, sherry, port, or my favorite, bourbon.

Burros used white flour and sugar in her recipe, as well as the traditional candied fruit (like citron and green(?) and maraschino cherries. No thanks. So I substituted whole wheat pastry flour (almond or gluten free flour flour works fine, too, since it is just a binder, not for rising) and date sugar (dried, ground dates), added lemon and orange zest, and spices. I substituted lots of dried ginger chunks and pineapple forf the candied fruit while dried tart cherries and cranberries replaced the maraschinos. Use what you like and want to eat. Dried figs, blueberries, goji berries, papaya, etc. could all work. Don’t be daunted by the list of ingredients. It is a very simple process. I find the recipe makes two good sized loaves (or four smaller loaves) rather than the one originally described. All the better to share with friends!

SYLVIA’S FRUITCAKE PLUS

• 16 oz walnut halves/pieces or a mix of walnuts and pecans
• 8 oz Brazil nuts
• 16 oz pitted dates
• 12 oz pitted prunes
• 16 oz dried apricots
• 6 oz candied fruits (ginger, pineapple)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried cherries or a mix of cherries, cranberries and/or goji berries
• Zest of one lemon or orange 
• 1 1/2 cups flour (ww pastry, almond, gluten-free or regular old unbleached)
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp salt
• Optional-1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp dried ginger
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sugar (maple, date or cane all work)
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 2 tsps brandy or apple juice
• 3/4-1 cup brandy plus more for feeding 

Preheat oven to 275 F. Grease the bottom and sides of two 8 or 9” loaf pans. Line with brown paper. (I cut up a paper bag but you can use parchment paper)

Combine all the nuts, fruit and zest in a large mixing bowl. 

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices, if using, and toss with the fruit/nut mixture to coat. 

Beat or whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and 2 tsps brandy. Pour over the nut mixture and mix gently to combine. 

Fill the prepared loaf pans and press the mixture into the pans firmly. Cover each lightly with a piece of parchment paper. Bake 2 hours, removing parchment half way through baking. (If using smaller pans, they will bake faster so adjust the time accordingly).

Remove pans to a wire rack in a shallow pan to cool and spoon a 1/4 cup of brandy over each loaf. Let stand one hour. Peel off paper, wrap each with cheesecloth, pour remaining brandy into the shallow pan and turn each wrapped loaf in the pan until cheesecloth is wet with brandy. Wrap each loaf with heavy duty foil (I use two layers) and store in a cool, dry place or in a large covered container. 

Check after a few days and if dry, add more brandy and rewrap tightly. Check every 10 days or so, adding brandy if dry, until ready to eat or gift. 

Hannah Niswonger makes delightful functional white stoneware pottery with remarkable drawings of wildlife set amidst lively patterns and shapes as well as sculpture, prints, drawings and tiles. See more of her work on her website.