Last year, our Houston Area Bed and Breakfast hosted Marti Mayne, associate editor for BedandBreakfast.com, and WanderingEducators.com. We had a great time showing her around the ranch. One of the things Marti did was ask about holiday traditions, and Carol told her the following:
Carol with a jar of her tasty cookies
“I grew up on a farm/ranch in Texas with wonderful memories of family togetherness. Eventually, I left to become a city girl, and went to night school to get a court reporting degree. Yet, after the appeal of city lights faded, I yearned for a simpler life, with nature and animals. Now I’m back in the country at my own B&B and restaurant, on my own ranch, raising cattle, horses, miniature donkeys, chickens, bison, black buck antelope, fallow deer, and my pet kangaroo, Roger Roo, all which guests love to visit.
My favorite holiday cookie is a family favorite my Mom always made at Christmas. Our family would spend many weeks preparing for Christmas, and we always had lots of sweets. Mom always made her favorite fudge, along with sand tarts, icebox cookies, divinity, and these heavenly fruit cookies. I can remember helping to shell pecans and cutting up the fruit for the cookies. What made them extra special was the homemade butter we churned (from the cows we milked), and the fresh eggs gathered from the chickens we raised. We kept these sweets in gallon jars – our own homemade cookie jar.”
There is no better time than the present to try out new cookie recipes. By the time the holidays roll around in 2010, you’ll be well practiced at making these delicious fruit cookies. Why not plan a girlfriend’s getaway at our Houston area guest ranch with friends? We have guest houses that sleep up to eight people. While some of you bake, others can enjoy pedicures, manicures, facials and massages. Bake until you drop, than burn off those all those tasted cookies with a horseback ride on the 650-acre ranch!
For Marti’s article, please check out examiner.com.
Read on for the recipe:
Mom’s Fruit Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter
4 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups dates
1/2 cup candied citron
1/2 cup candied cherries
1/2 cup candied pineapple
(all cut into small pieces)
3 cups raisins
4 cups pecans
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Sift dry ingredients together 3 times. Cream together sugar and butter. Add beaten eggs and vanilla, flour mixture, chopped fruit, and pecans. Mix thoroughly. Drop cookies by tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet approximately 1” apart. Bake approximately 10-15 minutes, until brown. Yeild: 60 cookies.
Cookies will keep like fruit cake and are good sprinkled with whiskey to keep them soft.