Juicy tutti frutti sandies. Packed with fruit, sweetened with coconut rum.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you crossed tutti frutti with a pecan sandie? No? Well now you don’t have to. We mix a whole basketful of fruit into these tiny delights. The dried fruit is first plumped and sweetened using a bit of sugar and coconut rum. The added hints of rum, banana, and clove give it a bit of… dare we say… Juicy Fruit gum flavor (?).
We admit that there’s a heckuva lot of flavor going on here, but we promise it all works together as something new and wonderful.
These cookies make a good gift for teachers… a little bribe never hurts.
Fruit Basket Cookies
Ingredients
Candied Fruit (must be prepared ahead of time and allowed to cool)
- 2 cups dried fruits (e.g., any blend of dried fruits, such as cranberries, cherries, blueberries, or strawberries)
- ½ cup rum (e.g., Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay coconut rum)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
Dough
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (room temperature, ½ stick)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 egg (large)
- 2 teaspoons rum extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon banana extract
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups candied fruit (see below)
- 1 cup pecans (chopped)
- ½ cup coconut flakes
Instructions
Candied Fruit
- Add the rum and sugar to a two quart sauce pan and cook on low until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently.
- Add the fruit and turn up heat to medium. Stir occasionally till the liquid starts to simmer, then turn heat down to low.
- Continue to stir occasionally. The fruit will absorb the liquid and plump. When fully plumped or all the liquid is gone (after about 10-20 minutes), remove the pan from heat and drain any excess liquid.
- Allow the fruit to cool completely (important).
Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter till it’s pale and fluffy.
- Add the white sugar and beat 1-2 minutes until smooth.
- Add the egg and all the extracts and beat another 1-2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cloves.
- (If using an electric stand mixer, switch to paddle attachment). Gradually add the dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Add the fruit, pecans, and coconut flakes and stir till well combined.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes. It will still be sticky.
- Using a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop, ball and drop dough 2 inches apart onto a cookie tray lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Flatten the balls slightly.
- Bake 16-20 for until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire baking rack and allow them to cool completely.
Tips & Tricks:
- Banana extract is incredibly strong! 1/4 teaspoon is plenty, else it’s banana-rama.
- We generally dislike cloves — you won’t find cloves in many of our other recipes — but they are good here, we swear. Don’t be afraid… it’s just 1/8 teaspoon.
Alternatives & Substitutions
- Leave out the 2 cups of candied fruits for a deliciously unique flavored pecan sandie cookie.
Don’t Shoot Your Eye Out!
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Is your knowledge of Ralphie and his family worthy of an A+?
