Fruitcake Bars

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

17 people added this to their Recipe Box

This recipe makes 72 bars servings

Nutritional Info
Per bar: about	-
cal	8989 cal
pro	1 g1g pro
total fat	4 g4g total fat
sat. fat	2 g2g sat. fat
carb	14 g14g carb
fibre	1 g1g fibre
chol	15 mg15mg chol
sodium	33 mg33mg sodium
% RDI:	-
calcium	11 calcium
iron	33 iron
vit A	33 vit A
vit C	33 vit C
folate	22 folate

Preparation time: 15 minutes Stand: 24 hours
Total time : 1-1/2 hours

To soak dried fruit in rum quickly, microwave with rum on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes or until hot. Let cool until room temperature, 1 hour.

Ingredients

1 cup candied mixed peel 1 1cup cupcandied mixed peel
3/4 3/4cup cupcoarsely chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dried pears 3/4 3/4cup cupcoarsely chopped dried peardried pears
3/4 3/4cup cupcoarsely chopped candied pineapple
1/4 cup amber rum 1/4 1/4cup cupamber rum or brandy
2 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger 2 2tbsp tbspchopped crystallized ginger
1 cup all-purpose flour 1 1cup cupall-purpose flour
3/4 tsp mace 3/4 3/4tsp tspmace
1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 1/2tsp tspcinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/2 1/2tsp tspground allspice
1/4 tsp salt 1/4 1/4tsp tspsalt
1 pinch baking soda 1 1pinch pinchbaking soda
1/2 cup salted butter , softened1/2 1/2cup cupsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 1/2cup cuppacked brown sugar
2 tbsp liquid honey 2 2tbsp tbspliquid honey
3 eggs 3 3eggeggs
1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 1/2tsp tspvanilla
3/4 cup chopped Brazil Nuts 3/4 3/4cup cupchopped Brazil nuts
Rum Butter Icing:
1/2 cup salted butter 1/2 1/2cup cupsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar 2 2cups cupsicing sugar
4 tsp amber rum 4 4tsp tspamber rum

Preparation

In large bowl, combine mixed peel, apricots, pears, pineapple, rum and ginger; toss well. Cover and let stand for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

In small bowl, whisk together flour, mace, cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking soda.

In separate bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and honey until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time; beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Stir in fruit mixture and Brazil nuts until combined.

Line 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan with double layer of parchment paper. Scrape batter into pan, smoothing top.

Set shallow pan on bottom rack of 300°F (150°C) oven; pour in enough hot water to come halfway up sides.

Bake bars on centre rack until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Let cool.

Rum Butter Icing: In bowl, beat butter, sugar and rum until smooth; spread over bars. Cut crosswise into 6 rows; cut each into 12 slices.

Source : Canadian Living Holiday Cookbook: Fall 2010