Christmas, Cooking

Weight Watchers Fruit Cake

My dad loves fruit cake and is a Weight Watchers lifetime member. I found this recipe on the WW site and thought I’d make it for him! I linked the page on WW. There are a couple of other recipes on the page that would be good.

Fruit Cake

Makes 16 servings

PointsPlus™ value 4 | per serving

What did the fruit cake ever do to deserve such ridicule? Here’s a version we’ve never seen anyone turn down—moist, light, full of dried fruit, perfect for breakfast or with a cup of coffee mid-afternoon.

Ingredients

  • 1 serving nonstick cooking spray
  • 3 Tbsp walnut oil
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp molasses
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried apple
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried pitted dates
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup cake flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 275°F. Spray a nonstick 1-quart loaf pan with nonstick spray and set it aside.
  2. Whisk the walnut oil, melted butter, molasses, vanilla, and egg white in a medium bowl; set aside.
  3. Mix the cranberries, raisins, apple, orange peel, dates, and 2 Tbsp flour in a large bowl. In a second large bowl, whisk the remaining 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, allspice, and salt. Stir into the dried fruit mixture. Then stir in the walnut oil mixture until a loose batter forms. Pour into the prepared pan, spreading it to the sides.
  4. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on the rack. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap to store at room temperature.
Christmas, Family

WOW!

That’s was my granddaughter’s expression when she saw my Christmas tree. It was so cute! My daughter and she came over and she ran to give me a hug, then gave grandpa a hug, and then saw the tree. I did use unbreakable ornaments in case she liked it too much. I also used the book page ornaments I made. As usual, not the best pictures

Christmas, Crafts

Book Page Ornaments

I’ve become somewhat obsessed with making crafts from books. I have some books I don’t want anymore and I don’t want to throw them away, so I’ve been on a hunt. I bought a book The Repurposed Library and have marked what I want to make ( I love the book bursts). Then I found a bog with glass ornaments decoupaged with old book pages,  and create my own version. I purchased some plastic ornaments and glitter  from Hobby Lobby, tore strips of paper from the pages of an old book and decoupaged the papers on with Modge Podge. I then sprinkled glitter over the ornament. I found that it worked better to let the ornament dry, then spread  a thin layer of Modge Podge and sprinkle with glitter. The glitter I used was a fine ground glass. It was clear and gives a beautiful sparkle. Below are the results. I definitely need to work on taking good photos!