Sour cream spice cake with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, raisins, and chopped walnuts. A 13x9 sheet cake with tender, tangy crumb and warm fall flavors.
Authentic Victorian mincemeat with boiled calf's tongue, suet, dried fruit, candied citrus peel, brandy, and whiskey. Cures in a crock for 7 weeks before becoming Christmas pie filling. Yields 96 servings.
Whole wheat Christmas fruit cake with grated carrot, raisins, almonds, hazelnuts, and warm spices, lightly sweetened and finished with a brandy soak. A wholesome, nutty take on the classic holiday cake.
A lightly spiced breakfast cake made with applesauce and bran for natural moisture, studded with raisins and nuts for texture.
Kasha kugel: baked Jewish casserole of toasted buckwheat groats with apples, cottage cheese, yogurt, honey, and cinnamon. Healthier whole-grain take on the classic sweet kugel.
Mayonnaise spice cake with raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and chopped nuts. No eggs or butter needed. The mayo keeps this old-fashioned cake incredibly moist with a tender, spiced crumb.
Mrs Fields' applesauce oatmeal cookies loaded with chocolate chips, raisins, and walnuts. Soft, chewy, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for a bakery-style cookie.
Peppernuts cookies with ground raisins, coconut, and nuts in a brown sugar-buttermilk dough, rolled into ropes and cut into bite-sized pieces. A Mennonite holiday tradition.
Freeze-ahead oatmeal cookie dough made with vegetable shortening, ready to slice and bake whenever cravings strike for chewy raisin nut cookies.
A spicy vegetable stew - easy to make. Some find that the flavors of the vegetables don't stand out unless you put in a lot of tabasco. But not everyone likes it hot. Just add enough to make the stew seem spicy to you.
Indian-style deep-fried pastries stuffed with a sweet filling of toasted coconut, cream of wheat, almonds, raisins, and cardamom. Crispy golden shells, fragrant spiced filling. Makes 1 dozen.
Pastel de choclo is a Chilean corn and meat pie with ground beef, chicken breast, raisins, and olives topped with a cumin-spiced pureed corn crust baked until golden. A South American comfort classic.
Gluten-free monkey bread made in a bread machine, then shaped into cinnamon sugar balls. Rice flour and xanthan gum create a tender pull-apart loaf studded with nuts and raisins.
Date nut raisin bread softened by boiling water over the fruit before mixing, creating a moist, tender quick bread loaded with walnuts and dried fruit. Egg-white-only batter keeps it lighter.
Eggless bread pudding with crushed pineapple, raisins, and a rum-brown sugar glaze topped with sliced almonds. Lighter than traditional custard-based versions.
Every year before my grandkids come over to my place, I usually bake a large batch of these cookies, and everyone loves them. I do however add some chocolate chips to the batter, and they are some great addition.