Little Prairie Cakes:

Working with a way-old American recipe, this country cookie dough is wrapped around fresh figgie or strawberry filling for 4-way variation on a very vintage theme. THEN we drizzle on the Sherry Icing.  Holy cow! We’re reconnecting with Vintage Prairie Cakes and it’s all good!  Bring ’em on!

Note to self:  I’m thinkin’ that 1859 might have been a good year for Prairie Cakes — uh, ON THE PRAIRIE 150 years ago!  However, after the 10th failed test batch of these little darlins’, it has {clearing throat} herewith been determined  that, uh, some of the old recipes must morph into goodness that us modern folk can celebrate — like moving on up from chicken grease to creamery butter — while still holding to the “spirit “of the recipe, of course. 🙂  After so many failed attempts, FINALLY we’ve got some winners!  Whew! But a NEW dilemma unfolds….

Variations on a theme:  Decisions, decisions. Which final Prairie Cake variation is best of the bunch?  And should the little cookies be sliced from their little cake log or prepared individually?  I narrowed it down, with a lot of help from taste-testing friends and family, to 2 fillings and 2 presentations —  so you will see options for each below, starting with the buttery-soft cookie dough that rolls out like a dream with some handy kitchen tools (we used a marble rolling-pin on a giant floured baking sheet). Then we’ve got 2, count ’em, 2 different country fillings — the original figgie filling (with a few twists) and a strawberry-date filling that has been whirred with honey, cream cheese and powdered sugar. These little “cakes” (which are really cookies in disguise) are traditionally sliced from a log shape after they’re baked but I conjured up some shape-shifting tricks in one variation to tuck the fruit inside the cookie. The filling stays soft completely wrapped in the dough and the little drizzle of Sherry Icing kicks up the flavor one more homemade country notch.

Prairie Cakes with fig filling in testing stage at Food Bloggers Los Angeles FBLA Holiday Cookie Exchange

Prepare ahead: You’ve got a lot to do during the holiday season so you might want to

Food Bloggers Los Angeles holiday cookie exchange cookies

make the cookie dough ahead of time and store it in little bucket in the “frigerator” for a few days (some folks say up to 10 days).  You can even get the fruit-filled cake logs all prepared, wrapped, chilled and ready to rock.  Then, when the time is right, let the dough warm up on the counter for a bit and slip the fruit-filled logs (or the individual filled cookies) onto your bakeware in a moderate oven for about half an hour  — and you’ll have yourself a very old-fashioned treat on your hands– fresh (and maybe even warm) from the oven. 🙂

Guess Who’s Making a Comeback?  Dates.  (I know, I know. Dates???)  We’re using special Medjool Dates, the “king of dates”, in the strawberry filling recipe. Why? Because we’re goin’ California prairie with this recipe.  AND these sticky dried dates taste just like caramel, I swear!  Also, this type of date is super huge with an easy to remove pit, plus they are: all natural, light on moisture and high in potassium.  They have: no cholesterol, they’re preservative free AND they have “an inverted sugar content of 70%” (not certain but I think that means they read way-high on the sweetness scale).  Perfect for brightening up the strawberry fruit blend for this country cookie!

Slow Cooking Warning:   No you won’t have to take the covered wagon out to the adobe ovens in the pasture to do your baking.  🙂  But we do need you to plump-up the figgie filling by simmering the dried figs to a caramelized sweetness. And the cookie dough needs some rolling and chilling, so…

Dry Creek Through Barbed Wire Fence Photo by Julie Macchiarella

You’ll need to carve out a little time from your busy schedule for this recipe.  Be sure to ratchet up my “Hey Soul Sister Radio” channel on Pandora while you charge up those decadent aromas in your kitchen.  Though the fig cakes are wonderful hot-from-the-oven, the figgie filling is a tad tricky to keep soft over a number of days so try making them in small quantities or wrap them up tight for storage. The strawberry cake-ies have fresh fruit and cream cheese inside so be sure to refrigerate them to keep them perfectly fresh. Take your time and tinker with the flavors if you like.  Add some orange peel or vanilla.  Put on your grandma’s polka dot apron and take a photo so your friends can see you wearing it. 🙂

Strange spice alert!   Mace.  Mace is weird, right?  Well, kinda.  🙂  It’s actually quite common in many older recipes but it’s not so common nowadays. Mace is actually the covering shell of the nutmeg pod so it has a subtle nutmeggy flavor.  Although we used Ground Mace found at the local market for the cookie dough recipe, here is a photo of Whole Mace from the Carribbean, although I broke up the pods for a different purpose so they don’t look as pretty as they did when they first arrived in the kitchen…

Okay.  Time to haul out your rolling-pin, your food-processor and your bakeware, cause we’re about to bake up a storm…

Prairie Cakes Country Cookie Dough

Kitchen Tools Needed for Dough:
Large mixing bowl (for mixing dough)
Small bowl or mug (for mixing 3 eggs)
Medium plate (for chopping cold butter)
Whisk
Fork
Measuring cups and spoons
Baking sheet(s)

Cookie Dough Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cups (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (cold)
3 large fresh eggs

Mix all 8 dry ingredients with a whisk…

Chop into small bits:
3/4 cups (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (cold)

In a small bowl, beat with a fork until well mixed:
3 large fresh eggs

Quickly mix the chopped butter and beaten eggs into the dry ingredients with a fork…

The dough will begin to come together in large mounds as you quickly mix with the fork.

Press together the dough quickly and gently with your fingers.  Your final cookie dough should look like this…

Wrap the dough in wax paper or aluminum foil and refrigerate it for at least an hour (or overnight).
Tip: Leave it out on the counter for about 10 minutes prior to use if refrigerated longer than 3 hours.

While the dough is refrigerating, let’s move on to the fruit fillings…

Figgie Filling

Kitchen Tools needed for Figgie Filling:
Heavy pot (for boiling figs)
Wooden spoon
Food processor (for pureed figs; Substitute: hand chopping with a nice, sharp knife)
Measuring cups and spoons

Figgie Filling Ingredients:
9 ounces (about 1-3/4 cups) dried figs (I used California Mission Figs)
1/2 cup medium to dry Sherry (substitute: apple juice)
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons of corn syrup

For the figgie cakes, I used dried Mission Figs.  They look so exotic. 🙂

In a large pot, boil then simmer on a very low-boil:
9 ounces (about 1-3/4 cups) dried figs
1/2 cup medium to dry Sherry (substitute: apple juice)
2 Tablespoons honey (I used clover but orange honey would be nice)
2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

The slow-simmering figs will suck up the juices and plump in size as they cook…

Simmer-boil (very low boil that is barely bubbling) for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, watching carefully when liquid gets low during the last 10 minutes.
Tip: If every bit of liquid disappears, add a little water or juice to keep a little liquid on the bottom of the pan.

Remove figs from heat, stir to cool to room temperature and throw the figs with their sauce into your trusty food processor (or chop them by hand very finely — which is totally do-able).

Add to the pureed figs using the “pulse” button until it forms into a ball:
3 Tablespoons corn syrup
Tip: If you’re not using a food processor, just stir in the corn syrup until thoroughly incorporated.

Strawberry Filling:

Kitchen Tools needed for cookie fillings:
Food processor (for chopping fruits; alternate: hand chopping with a very sharp knife, no worries)
Measuring cups and spoons
Teaspoon (for strawberry drop filling)

Strawberry Filling Ingredients:
12 ounces (about 1-3/4 cups) whole fresh dates (I used California Medjool Dates)
1 pound (16 ounces) fresh whole strawberries
8 ounces (1 cup) cream cheese
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup powdered sugar

Slice in half and remove the pits from:
12 ounces (about 1-3/4 cups) whole fresh dates (California Medjool Dates are best for this recipe)

Puree the dates in the food processor until a ball forms (or chop finely with a sharp knife).

Remove stems and add to the food processor with the dates:
1 pound (16 ounces) fresh whole strawberries

Give a few quick “pulses” in the food processor to nicely blend in:
8 ounces (1 cup) cream cheese (cold from the fridge is fine)
1 Tablespoon honey (I used clover)
1 cup powdered sugar

Filling the Prairie Cakes with Fruit Filling

Now we’ll fill our crazy-cool Prairie Cakes in a rolled log shape and in individual wrapped cookie shapes.

Let the chilled dough sit on the counter for about 10 minutes if it has been refrigerated for longer than a few hours.

Gently knead the dough for about a minute to be certain it is thorough incorporated.

Cut a  one-half portion of the chilled cookie dough and place it on a floured surface, sprinkling the top of the dough and the rolling-pin with a little flour…
Tip: Because I’m a bakeware hound, I happen to have a super-large baking tray so I used it to roll out the dough for easy clean-up — but any good-sized counter space will do. 🙂

Roll the dough out about 1/4″ thick…

Trim the edges with a knife into a large rectangle shape — maybe 12″ long by 4 inches wide (but you can play with the shapes of your Prairie Cakes and you can easily re-mix un-used dough for the next roll-out)…

Form the sticky filling down the center like a little log…

Make a strawberry log by forming the strawberry-date filling down the center of a prepared cookie dough sheet…

Carefully roll the edges of the soft dough over the filling to form a long roll and slice away the extra dough along the long run of dough, leaving the ends long to tuck in later.
Tip: Use a pancake flipper to help flap the dough over the fruit filling if you need to.

Use a pancake flipper to help you transfer the rolls to an un-greased baking sheet, being sure to place them seam-side down.

Tuck the ends of the rolls by pressing them or pinching them to be sure the filling is completely enclosed (we’ll trim the ends after baking).

Completed Prairie Cakes in slightly different sizes in rolled log shapes…

Now we’ll try some individual cookies using the same country cookie dough and the same fig and strawberry fillings.

Use a cookie cutter to cut some shapes in the rolled out dough in order to make individual Prairie Cakes…

Place a level teaspoon of fruit filling onto the center of one half of the cookie cutter shapes. Here’s a photo of strawberry-date filling being placed in the center of each cut-out…

Pinch the edges of the soft cookie dough completely closed to tightly seal the filling…

A small testing tray of individual Prairie Cakes filled with strawberries and dates — all ready to chuck into the oven…

Bake the individual Prairie Cake wrapped cookies at 350 for about 20-25 until lightly golden brown.

Here’s a close-up look at the center of a baked strawberry-filled Prairie Cake (right after I took a little bite out of it).  🙂

Bake the Prairie Cake rolls on un-greased cookie sheets at 350 for about 30 minutes until lightly golden brown. Slice off the end pieces of each roll to discard (not! 🙂 Just enjoy the end-pieces with your morning coffee).

When the roll has cooled, use a very sharp knife and slice each roll into 1″ slices.

Sherry Icing

Now we’re going to make a simple icing with a little Sherry thrown in for good measure. You may leave the Sherry out and the sauce will taste just as sumptuous.

Kitchen Tools Needed for Icing:
Electric mixer
Medium mixing bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Spatula
Funnel (to get the icing into the squirt bottle)
Squirt bottle (for the famous drizzle!, Substitute: teaspoon or little pouring cup)

Sherry Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons medium to dry Sherry (substitute: 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream)
2 Tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream (more cream may be needed to achieve a smooth pour consistency)

In a mixer, blend on low-speed: the powdered sugar, Sherry (or cream substitute) and corn syrup.

With the mixer still on low-speed, slowly add the heavy cream, increasing to medium speed until you achieve silky-smooth icing.
Tip: The icing should pour with the consistency of a thick maple pancake syrup (only white). Sorry, that’s the only analogy I could think of. Ha! 🙂

Pour the prepared icing into a funnel that leads to a squirt bottle. 🙂
Tip: If you don’t have a squirt bottle, pour the icing into a glass measuring cup or other pouring tool, or just fill a spoon with the icing and let the icing drip onto the cookies.

After the Prairie Cakes are cooled, use the squeeze bottle filled with Sherry Icing (or substitute tool) and drizzle the icing back and forth across the cookies.

When the Sherry Icing drizzle is added, well, OH! EM! GEE!!

Now you’re ready to add an interesting vintage addition to your holiday cookie baking…

Christmas Cake coming up next so stay tuned and thank you for all your wonderful words of encouragement. I look forward to hearing from you in our comments section.

What do you know? Snow in Los Angeles. Ha!

Happy holidays!

Leslie

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FBLA Food Bloggers of Los Angeles Holiday Cookie Swap

Savory foods for the Food Bloggers Los Angeles Holiday Cookie Swap

Date Palms on Hollywood Boulevard

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