Christmas Fruitcake Cookies

These are the fruitcake cookies my grandmother makes every year around Christmas time. I think she began making them because no one was really a big fan of fruitcake, but put the same ingredients into cookie form and they are gobbled up! These fruitcake cookies are soft, moist, and spicy. 

These cookies contain a nice blend of fruit, like you would usually find in a fruitcake. I know there are red and green cherries and dates in the cookies, along with some chopped pecans. There may be some other fruit in there as well, but I'm not completely sure. All I know is that these cookies are delicious, and certainly remind you of fruitcake - but all the good qualities of fruitcake. I am not meaning to give fruitcake a bad rap, but it usually does have one anyway. I would enjoy these anytime of the year, not just Christmas. In fact, this is probably a good recipe to make to use up leftover fruit from making fruitcakes and fruitbreads and squares at Christmastime.