BEST COOKING RECIPES

This is the recipe that my grandmother brought with her when she and her family left Russia in the early 1900"s.
As a child around 1920's or so
while living on a farm in Pennsylvania which at that time there were a great amount of people who came from Europe
you needed to be able to do for yourself
she learned from her mother how to make a most delicious white fruit cake
a white fruitcake is a fruitcake that does not have any molasses
molasses which is very bitter
not having the molasses in the fruitcake gives it a lighter color
this gives it the name white fruitcake.


This fruitcake in the days in which my mother lived as a child with her parents this was only made during Christmas because the only time you could get walnuts
cherries
and some other ingredients was in the fall of the year
remember now they didn't go to the store to buy what they needed
they had to grow them
raisins were dried by the people themselves
they even had to shell their own walnuts
and candy their own cherries
and such the pineapple and coconut I do believe they must have purchased.


To keep with tradition the only time of the year that I make or sell this fruitcake is during the Christmas holidays
and In my mind you cannot get a better fruitcake. Here we go now gather up your ingredients and set them on your table
all ingredients need to be at room temperature.

1 pound butter
12 eggs
1 lb. sugar
1 pound flour
1 pound white raisins
1 pound walnut meats
1 lb. red and green candied cherries
1 lb. bakers flaked coconut
1 lb. candies pineapple
1 tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in ผ cup warm water
2 cups brandy--any brand


Soak the raisins
walnuts
cherries
coconut and pineapple with 2 cups brandy overnight in a stainless steel bowl.
In a 5 quart mixing bowl cream butter and sugar
then add eggs slowly
then add your flour and blend well
add the baking soda and water and mix a minute more
add all other ingredients and mix until well blended.
Now you are going to bake it in a 2 pound pan
or in the pan of your choice
foil or hard pan
line the pan with wax paper or baking paper or better yet a pan liner the size of the pan. For a 2 pound pan
Place 1 pound 12 ounces of the mixture in the pan and level it with a spoon
don't bang it on the table. Bake it in a 350 degree preheated oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes
depends on your oven and how brown you want it.
It's done when a pick is placed in the center and it comes out clean. Let it cool on a rack for a while and then sprinkle it with 1 ounce of brandy and then another ounce when it is cool and then pack it away for about 3 days in your refrigerator and then “enjoy it”.