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Christmas Fruitcake Cookies with Candied Pineapple

A cookie made with flour, cocoa, spices, candied fruit, nuts, raisins, currants, butter, sugar, eggs, and coffee, baked until lightly browned.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Christmas Fruitcake Cookies with Candied Pineapple

Oven350 degrees
Time14 to 16 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Have ready ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet(s).

  3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and spices.

  4. Cut candied fruits, dates and figs into small pieces and toss with a small amount of the flour mixture.

  5. Combine in a large bowl with the pecans, raisins and currants.

  6. Set aside.

Make the dough

  1. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until light, about 2 minutes.

  2. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Mix in the coffee.

  4. Stop the mixer and add the flour mixture.

  5. Mix on low speed just until combined.

  6. Using a wooden spoon, fold in the fruit and nut mixture to coat all the pieces.

Bake and store

  1. Drop batter onto baking sheet in walnut-size mounds leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.

  2. Bake until set and tops are lightly browned, 14 to 16 minutes.

  3. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

  4. Store in an airtight container, with a small wedge of apple to keep them soft.

  5. The cookies may be glazed or sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1456Calories
29 gProtein
49 gFat
237 gCarbs

Counts 16 of 18 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 16 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pecans1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)196
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Date1 date (24g) medjool66
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Fig1 medium (50g)37
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Macenot in our table0
Coffeenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a light, tender texture.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure as the cookies set in the oven.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the mounds together as they bake.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown at the surface.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to help the cookies rise and spread.
Pecans
Add crunch and richness to the fruit-filled dough.

The step that matters

Mixing in the flour. Mixing on low speed just until combined keeps the flour from overdeveloping gluten, which would make the cookies tough rather than tender.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, pineapple):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, pineapple. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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