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Fruit Cookies
1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup shortening 3 eggs 3 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon lemon extract 1 cup figs, finely chopped 1 cup dates, chopped 2 cups nuts 1 cup currants, scalded 1 package raisins Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Mix and sift together the dry ingredients, add to the creamed mixture, then add flavoring and stir well. Mix in the fruits and nuts. Drop from tip of spoon onto greased baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven. Makes seven dozen cookies.
A fruitcake in cookie form, and typical of the mid-century "company" baking that leaned on dried fruit and a heavy hand with nuts. A few of the quantities need pinning down before you start.
- "Hot oven"In books of this period a hot oven is 400-425F. At that heat, and with this much sugar and fruit, 20 minutes is too long for a small dropped cookie; expect 10-12 minutes at 400F, or bake at 375F for the stated time and watch the edges.
- "1 package raisins"Package sizes varied, and a box of the period commonly held about 15 oz, roughly 2 1/2 cups. Treat it as 1 to 2 cups, in line with the other fruits; the dough will carry it either way.
- Scalding the currantsPour boiling water over them, let them stand a few minutes, then drain and dry well. This plumps them and loosens grit. Wet currants will make the dough slack, so blot them before they go in.
- ShorteningMost likely vegetable shortening, which gives a cakier, paler cookie. Butter works and tastes better, but spread will increase slightly.
- Lemon extractA full tablespoon is a lot by current standards. Start with 2 teaspoons, or use 1 teaspoon extract plus the grated zest of a lemon.
- Chop fine, and flour the fruitFigs and dates both stick to the knife; a light dusting of the measured flour over the chopped fruit keeps the pieces separate and stops them sinking or clumping in the bowl.
- Dough consistencyThis is a stiff drop dough once the fruit is in. If it fights the spoon, chill it 20 minutes rather than adding liquid, and use two spoons or a small scoop to portion.
- Yield and storageSeven dozen is accurate only for genuinely small mounds, about two teaspoons each. They keep well in a tin for a week and freeze without harm, which is part of why cookies like this were made in such quantity.
Fruit cookies like this one sit at the point where the Christmas fruitcake tradition met the American drop cookie, and they became more common over the first half of the twentieth century as baking powder, packaged dried fruit and shelled nuts became widely available. The appeal was practical: the same figs, dates, currants and raisins that went into a steamed or aged cake could be dropped onto sheets, baked quickly and stored in a tin, and the batch was large enough to see a household through a run of visitors.