ugh, i haven’t even STARTED!!!
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those look gorgeous! i did mine in a non-stick, 14x4.5 inch tin with a removable bottom. since i share my holiday goodies with a number of people, i’ll cut the panforte into smallish chunks and include a few in each bag.
also love to mix small chunks into plain greek yogurt for breakfast or a snack.
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I love the idea of sharing slices - more to go around. It might give me the excuse to purchase a rectangular tart pan. 
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Good to know! I had to spell kirsch for the young man working at the branch near me 
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I made a loaf of barmbrack this weekend. I got the recipe from a non-cookbook that I am reading. I halved the recipe and it was surprisingly tasty for a fruity-cake kinda snack treat. No alcohol, but lots of raisins and I soaked them in Constant Comment tea. The recipe recommends toasting slices of this brambrack ans slathering the slices with butter. Oh my, I should have bought the Irish butter for slathering.
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Recipe please? I’ve not heard of barmbrack before, but love no-alcohol fruitcakes.
Adding this one because I’m a fan of Cloake’s column. https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/17/barmbrack-recipe-fruit-loaf-felicity-cloake
Also, Welsh Bara Brith
Are these a good option to mail as a gift? Looking for something sturdy enough not to arrive as a box of crumbs! Thank you.
My mother doesn’t like butter (I truly wonder whether we are actually related sometimes), so when I was growing up, she used Crisco for all of her baking. The Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe included. And wouldn’t you know, I and all of my friends preferred hers to any one else’s, even though they were all using the same recipe (except the shortening sub).
As an adult, I prefer butter in 99.99999999999% of recipes, but there is something about a Crisco-based chocolate chip cookie that just works.
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Here goes: Barmbrack
This is a halved recipe which made one long narrow bread pan loaf, maybe 12"x 3" x 2"high. It is very moist due to the fruit and is excellent toasted and slathered with butter. Tea Time!
Soak overnight 1 c. Sultanas and 1 cup raisins, 1 c. brown sugar in 1-1/2 cups warm tea. I used golden raisins for the sultanas and strong Constant Comment tea.
In mixing bowl add to the tea and fruit mixture, alternately: 1 cup ap flour and 2 small eggs, beaten. Mix well, then add in 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder. A spice mixture may be added at this time, and I stirred in about 1/2 tsp. of a mixture of different cinnamons, a teeny pinch of ground cloves and a teeny pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. I could have added more, but since it was my first go at this recipe, and I used Constant Comment tea, I didn’t. Mix well and turn into a lightly sprayed (I used evoo) bread loaf pan and bake in preheated 300°F oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, rotating halfway through. Brush top of warm loaf with 2T. warmed honey. Store covered, no need to refrigerate for a few days.
This recipe is dying to be played with. I might use just speculas spice next time. I used two small eggs because the recipe was halved and the two small were exactly half of the 3 regulars. The full on recipe may make 2 regular loaves. Enjoy and please report back.
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My niece is married to a teetotaler who overindulged in one of her mother’s fruitcakes; my sister used to macerate the fruit in rum or brandy before baking the cake, and then put booze into the finished cake. He was surprised when he got lightheaded, then went to sleep 
He didn’t figure out the reason till we told him.
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I soaked my fruit in spirits for 2 months.
Four of the cakes have Bacardi 10 Year Gold Rum for the soaked fruit, and a Dom. Montreuil Calvados finish.
The other four have Schladerer Kirschwasser-soaked fruit, and an Oregon cherry brandy for the finish.
I haven’t tasted them yet. December 10th isthe first taste-testing day!
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Hard to beat this cheese/charcuterie/fruit display!
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I’m a big baker but not necessarily a bread baker, so I allow myself one holiday indulgence that I don’t make myself: a mail-ordered panettone from From Roy in (I think?) San Francisco. I ordered one last year and was satisfied that it was worth the hefty price tag. I got the orange/raisin flavor.
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Already sold out of all except chocolate. I know I will never remember this next year. If you think about it, please give us a reminder earlier. I was ready to splurge.
odd, i only ordered mine today! but by all means consider the chocolate, it’s many peoples’ favorite!
@pavlova - Everything on the list does get shipped, including the Cardamom Biscotti. Cookies get frozen the evening I bake them. On shipping day, I bag 6-12 of each variety for each family, typically put a folded piece of waxed paper, parchment paper or unwaxed paper in a ziplock bag, slip the cookies in between the 2 sides and crumple the top edge of the paper to make an envelope inside the bag. I use cushioning between/around the bags of cookies - most often about 6 plastic shopping bags each stuffed with more bags and tied to make small pillows. My sister has sent me a variety of cookies in a metal tin, using crumpled waxed paper to cradle each cookie and a layer of crumpled paper just under the lid. The key is to have enough cushion filling in whatever box you use that the cookie bags /cookies don’t rattle around.
I ship using US Postal Service priority mail and (with the notable exception of 2020) cookies arrive within 2-4 days.
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Thanks mts. Likely will make around New Years, after my purchased (bakery) fruitcakes are gone.
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I just made a test batch of crinkle cookies. I modified a John Kanell (Preppy Kitchen) recipe. I made them a bit too large, so the next batch I’ll need to roll them smaller, but that is a minor adjustment. “Sunshine” has never had crinkle cookies before and is happily feasting on my test batch. I’m very happy with the taste, just need to correct the size.
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