fruit cake swirl cookies

Say what you must about fruit cake. To be honest, I have never actually eaten fruit cake, so I cannot be one to judge. I just know that it has a bad reputation. That is why when the time came for my nutrition club’s secret santa recipe exchange, I decided to challenge myself and turn the not-so-beloved holiday cake into a “semi-healthy” holiday cookie that could restore the good name of both “fruit” and “cake” around the holidays.

Nothing makes me giggle like Jim Gaffigan’s sketch on fruit cake. It was running through my head as I made these cookies. (Fruit cake start at 4:17.)

Now that you have gotten a good chuckle in, here is the recipe for my Fruit Cake Swirl Cookies.

Ingredients:

♦ ½ cup softened butter (I used earth balance vegan baking sticks)

♦ ¾ cup sugar

♦ 1 tbsp plain greek yogurt

♦ 1 egg

♦ 1 tsp vanilla extract

♦ 1 cup all purpose flour

♦ ½ whole wheat flour

♦ ¼ tsp baking powder

♦ ¼ tsp salt

♦ ½ c chopped fresh cranberries

♦ ²/3 c finely chopped walnuts

♦ orange rindBegin by whisking together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a different bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.

Add the egg, vanilla and yogurt and mix until well combined.

Add in the flour mixture a third at a time and mix until well combined dough forms. Cover the dough and refrigerate for one hour.

While the dough is chilling, combine the well chopped cranberries, walnuts and orange rind together. You can also pulse it all together in a food processor for a little bit for ample mixing and combining of the flavors.

Once the dough has chilled, roll it out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Cover the dough with the fruit mixture and carefully roll the rectangle up into a roll. This way, the fruit will swirl into the dough. Cover the roll and freeze for at least 4 hours. *If storing the dough, it will keep for up to 6 months in the freezer.

When ready, preheat the oven to 375ºF and move the rack to the top position. Slice the dough roll into cookie slices and place on a greased cookie sheet or on top of parchment paper.