Soaking Nuts and Fruits for Christmas

“Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation-- experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way”

                                                                                                             - Paul Theroux

I must admit that this is the onl kind of failure I would like to meet with on a daily basis. I love repeating my experiments and when they disappoint me I feel even more charged to set them up. I wish I had the same spirit for Life and my work in general. So as promised I have managed this post in between m vacation. We are leaving for Kerala in five hours but I had to post something. So here it is our experiment for the day.

Tis the season to be Jolly indeed and so we  decided to  soaking the  fruits and nuts for our christmas cake. We just came from a short trip to Pondicherry and I am all geared up for some baking after my encounter at Baker's street. That deserves a post of its own but since it's the season to bake cake I decided this post would come ahead and grace this blog. I have referred to a lot of recipes and the time period for soaking the nuts and fruits for christmas cake varies from a day ahead. a week, a month to a year. The longer you soak the better they  turn out to be says most recipes and I remember my aunts who were nuns referring to their time period for soaking nuts as 24 days. My hubby is uber excited after the Master Chef at office so he decided to take this soaking business seriously. 

We have been chopping the nuts and fruits from 6am and we finally have let them soak in peace. I am all excited since this is my first christmas cake. I hope nothing goes wrong after 21 days. We are lucky to have lavished walnuts this time because of our stock from Kashmir, I don't think we would bother adding walnuts next year. And the liquor from Pondicherry is the high light. So this  year's cake has supplies from Kashmir and Pondicherry which makes it even more special. I don't think a recipe is requires for this process but then when we needed one we did skim through umpteen recipes. So here is mine.

Ingredients for Soaking nuts and fruits for Christmas cake

Almonds- 150 gms chopped

Wlanuts- 150 gm chopped

Cherries- 100 gm finely chopped

Dates- 150 gm finely chopped

Sultanas/Raisins- 200 gms

Tutti fruity- 250 gm

Rum- 200ml

Wine (Red)- 200ml

Brandy - 200ml

Directions

Chop the nuts and fruits finely. If the pieces are big and chunky the cake will fall off or crumble when you  slice the cake. Once all the above mentioned ingredients minus the liquor is chopped, add them to a mixing bowl of plate and add the liquor.

 You will soon notice that the liquor is absorbed by the fruits immediately. I added a little more of rum when my hubby transferred the soaked nuts and fruits to an airtight container. 

Most recipes suggest stirring the mix for the first seven days. I will be doing the same. And I have my fingers crossed for 25th of December. Hope you baking enthusiasts and skeptics try this for once. If not baking lets make it an annual family ritual, what say?

 Do watch out for my French food safari in Pondicherry. I promise you a review on all the dishes and restaurants I savoured. But for now 'Deck the halls with boughs of holly.......