Fruitcake Shortbread with Rum Glaze

  •  Fruitcake Shortbread with Rum Glaze

    Be not afraid of the whole “fruitcake” thing, folks.  This is really just a fantastic shortbread with a killer glaze, that happens to have pieces of dried fruit stirred into it to be considered somewhat festive.

    I was thumbing through a magazine in the checkout at the grocery store last week and saw this glaze smothering some kind of cookie or another.  I was instantly smitten- and I’m not even a rum girl (although I do get down to a mojito once or twice every summer, and Malibu coconut rum has my name on it when pineapple juice and soda are nearby).  The allure of the glaze is that it needs to be brushed (well, poured) on while the cookies are still warm.  Hold up.  Warm.  This means what you think it means: a glaze that permeates the buttery, crispy surface of the cookie and means business.  I’m going to glaze everything while it’s warm for the rest of my life.  (And then apply more glaze to the room-temperature baked good, so the icing takes on that texture we all know and love.)  Oh, icing.

    Cheers to a festive cookie that Santa might appreciate this year.  He deserves some rum after a long night of stuffing himself into chimneys.

    Adapted from my Classic Shortbread Cookie recipe…

    2 cups all-purpose flour

    1 1/4 teaspoons salt

    1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)

    1/4 cup granulated sugar

    1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

    1 teaspoon vanilla

    3/4 cup candied, dried fruit (or candied cherries), chopped

    GLAZE:

    1 cup confectioners’ sugar

    1 – 2 tablespoons dark rum

    1. Line a 9 x 13″ baking pan with parchment paper (with at least a few inches of overhang so you can lift out later) and set aside.
    2. In a small bowl, sift flour and salt together and set aside.
    3. In a large bowl, cream butter with a stand mixer (or hand-held mixer) until light (2 – 3 minutes), then add sugar and beat for additional 2 – 3 minutes (scraping sides of bowl a couple of times throughout).  Add vanilla.  Add flour & salt combo and mix on low speed for about 10 seconds, then add dried candied fruit and mix until dough is just incorporated together into a ball.
    4. Pat dough evenly into prepared baking pan, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the dough, and chill until very firm (at least an hour).
    5. Preheat oven to 325°.
    6. Remove parchment paper from pan (with dough in it!) and smooth top of chilled dough with a rolling pin.  Using a long knife, cut dough into cookie squares.  Place squares onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake shortbread until firm to the touch and turning golden brown (about 25 – 30 minutes).  Brush liberally with glaze (below) while still warm.
    7. GLAZE: in a small bowl or measuring cup, stir sugar and rum together until smooth.  Add more sugar or rum to achieve a glaze that’s runnier than the consistency of honey.  Spoon over the tops of the cookies and allow glaze to set before serving.

    Tips:

    • For tips on baking shortbread, click here.  You really want to make sure you bake the cookies long enough to get that incredible, addictive, butter-sugar baking taste (and smell).
    • Dark rum or light rum?  I think dark rum works best in baking, but use what you’d like.  (I am so going to make a tropical dessert with a Malibu rum glaze.  Soon.)
    • Prefer not to use rum?  Use a teaspoon of rum flavoring with water or milk stirred into the sugar.  Or just milk and no rum flavoring- whichever.
    • Glaze notes: let the glaze drip over the edges of the cookies, so you let more glaze soak into your life.  You can sit your cookies on cooling racks with a piece of wax or parchment paper underneath to catch the excess drips, then scrape that off and eat it yourself.
    • This recipe is similar to my Icebox Cookie recipe, which is more like a sugar cookie instead of shortbread.  Time and a place for both, folks.
    • Oh, don’t forget the Holiday Sugar Cookies while you’re at it.
    • Enjoy!

     

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    December 18th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: ,

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