Christmas Fruitcake Makes 6

This is a tradional fruit cake from Calabria, that is nice to slice it into thin wedges for a holiday cookie tray. Although it sounds complicated, once you get going it really isn't difficult.

Filling:

2 Pounds Of Raisins

2 Pounds Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

1 Cup Whiskey

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

3 Tablespoons Cinnamon

Juice Of 1 Orange

Dash Of Anisette

Combine all filling ingredients in a glass bowl, cover and let sit overnight, stirring occasionally.

Dough:

7 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 Cup White Wine

5 Eggs

Zest From 1 Lemon And 1 Orange

2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Oil

1/2 Cup Whiskey

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Dash Of Cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Baking Soda

Toothpicks

Topping:

1 Cup Honey

Colored Sprinkles

Make a mound of the flour on a pastry board or counter. Make a well in the center, and using a fork, begin to add in the remaining ingredients until you have created a dough. Knead with additional flour as needed until smooth. Divide into 6 Equal sized balls. Covering the rest of the balls, take one and begin to run it through a pasta machine to flatten. Continue to lightly flour and pass through increasingly narrow openings, until the dough is between 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place on the counter, and using a scalloped pastry wheel, run it along the outside edges of each side of the dough.

Next using the pastry wheel, cut the strip of dough in half lengthwise into two ribbons. On each half of the ribbon, sprinkle on some of the walnut, raisin mixture and fold to close. Starting at one end, begin to roll up the dough into a coil, using toothpicks to support it as needed. Continue until you have an 8 inch cake, using some of the second strip as needed. Continue using all of the dough up in this manner.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the cakes on a lightly floured baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt the honey in a pot and brush each of the cakes lightly over the top. Sprinkle with the candy sprinkles and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let cool completely and then wrap in foil to store. To serve, remove the toothpicks and cut into wedges.

Nonna Lina � 2003