Quick-Clean Cuisine: Grandma Mary's Fruit Rolls

Grandma Mary and Soon-To-Be Fruitcake Fan

Fruitcake during the holidays has become something of a joke. For some reason, people who receive them may put slices out for company, but it is the fudge and gingerbread men that get eaten off the serving plate.

To be blunt, many fruitcakes deserve this humiliation. They can be dry or overly gooey, and somehow sweet and disgusting, simultaneously.
My mother's fruitcake was not like that, probably because she made them with so much love....and a great recipe. On a platter next to homemade fudge, her fruitcake held its own.

Hula Girl-Cum-Fruticake Magnate, Gina

Our daughters Gina and Amy have been determined to re-create her fruitcakes, annually getting together a few weeks before Christmas to make three dozen or so. Without having the exact recipe, there has been a certain amount of trial and error, but they always turn out a great fruitcake.

As promised, below you will find the amazing fruitcake recipe our family enjoyed again this Thanksgiving, as recorded by Gina, who wrote the following text for this blog in order to find the recipe more easily in future years. But you can make it too!

This recipe echoes the “fruit rolls” that Grandma Mary made each year, a tradition carried on by Emma, Amy, and Gina. Everything has been scaled as a double batch, but can be halved.

Amy, Fashionista-Cum-Fruitcakière

Phase 1 – Shop
* 2 lbs (or a bit less) candied cherries (half red/half green)
* 2 lbs (or a bit less) dried dates
* At least 12 cups pecans, chopped
* At least 8 cups walnuts, chopped
* 2 lbs graham crackers (crumbs if available)
* 8 sticks of butter (salted)
* 2 lbs marshmallows
* 2 small cans condensed milk
* Wax paper
* Tape
* Wrapping paper

Fruitcake Maker Emma With
Devoted Fruticake Eater BG3

Phase 2 - Chop
* Chop cherries
* Chop dates
* Chop pecans to make 12 cups
* Chop walnuts to make 8 cups
* Crush graham crackers (or buy crumbs)
* Separate all of the above chopped/crushed ingredients the above to 4 batches. Consider adding dates piece by piece into crumbs to avoid clumping.
* Mix and store

Jay at First Gathering of Occupy Fruitcakes in Laguna

Phase 3 – Combine
* Set up ~64 wax paper rectangles ~7 inches wide (reserve 32 nicest ones for re-wrapping)
* For each of the 4 batches
    o Melt 2 sticks of butter and then add 1/2 lbs of marshmallows, stir until melted
    o Add ½ can of condensed milk
    o Stir in 1 batch of fruits, nuts and crumbs
    o Quickly transfer to wax paper, shaping to a log
    o Tape and refrigerate overnight