Joy of Christmas at every tea time!

I consider myself lucky to grow up in a place that truly believed in blended culture and the religion of food.. We celebrated Durga puja and Christmas with same spirit and excitement. We close our eyes and say "Christmas" to remember the warm woollens, beautiful red and green decoration, hot chocolate and lots of fruit cakes! Cakes and Kheer had shared the same rank on our plate. In India; we love our food and we love to explore new ingredients and new identities for them. We experimented with local spices and different mix of jaggery to replace the sugar… our fruit cakes have evolved in colour and texture but made with same portion of love every time. Give it a try and let me know your experience..

Ingredients:

1. All-purpose flour - 1+ ½ cup ( 195 gm )

2. Packed brown sugar ( powdered jaggery) - 1+ ¼ cup ( 185 gm )

3. Unsalted Butter - ¼ cup ( 60 gm ) at room temperature

4. Ground cinnamon - 1 teaspoon

5. Ground ginger - 1 teaspoon

6. ground clove - ½ teaspoon

7. Fine rock salt - ½ teaspoon

8. Dry fruits - 2 cups ( 300 gm ) [I use figs, dried cherry, raisins and dates; but why follow? get creative with your own mix]

9. Candied mixed peel - 1 cup (150 gm ) [ Again, no pressure, if you like one flavour go with that ]

10. Baking soda - 1teaspoon ( 5 gm )

11. Egg - 2 large at room temperature

12. Water - 1 cup ( 240 ml )

Method:

1. In a medium sized saucepan add water, sugar, butter, ground spices, salt and dry fruits

2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Please don't rush this step, we don't want a hard boil

3. Let your mixture simmer for 4-5 mins on medium heat and leave aside to cool down

4. After 45 mins to an hour the mixture should be lukewarm and ready for next step

5. Strat the oven to preheat at 180 degree Celsius

6. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and fold in to sugar and dry fruit mixture

7. Sieve baking soda and flour to get rid of any lumps

8. Nicely fold in the flour and mixed peel into the mixture with a spatula

9. brush melted butter on a loaf pan. I use a 8½" x 4½" x 2½" pan but hey, it's okay if yours is a little different

10. Dust your tin with flour and tap from all sides to cover all the surfaces and tap upside down to take the extra flour out

11. Place a parchment paper at the bottom to ensure your beautiful cake does not stick to the bottom of the pan

12. Pour in the batter into your loaf tin and place in preheated oven

13. Bake for 45-50 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean

14. Let it cool down for about 15 mins before you take it out of the tin

15. I know it looks and smells Yummy but to make that slightly hard crust completely soft and making the fruits and spices perfectly blend with each other; I would suggest to store this overnight packed in an aluminium foil

Well, enough waiting.. Change your teatime for ever... cut a slice and fall in love!