Steve Wertz wrote:

> For all those people considering passing out fruitcakes for Christmas:
>
> PLEASE... DON'T.

Send this. Margaret Suran gave me the recipe, and even some of the breads, and this
will melt the heart of many of fruitcake haters.
<begin paste>
Fruit Bread

2 cups flour

l teaspoon baking soda

l cup sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

l cup raisins, soaked in 1 to 1 1/2 cups of boiling water (depends how
dried out the raisins are) and a walnut sized piece of unsalted butter

l cup diced dried California (not the Turkish, they are too sweet)
apricots

1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries

1 cup mixed fruitcake fruit

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, broken into small pieces

1 cup chocolate chips

Put first three ingredients into a large bowl and mix with wooden
spoon. Mix in the eggs, which will not moisten the dry stuff
completely. Add the raisins with the liquid and stir well. Add the
other ingredients and just mix to incorporate.
Spoon batter into buttered and floured loaf pans. I get two to three
from this recipe. If you just put it into two pans, you have to bake it
for too long and the bottom may burn, if you put it into three pans,
bake for about an hour in preheated 350o oven, until top feels solid and
wooden toothpick comes out dry.
blacksalt