I was 'gifted' these fruitcake bars on a plate with various other cookies and candies by a co-worker at my job, years and year (and years) ago. I would have been about 21 years old at the time and although my husband and I enjoyed tasting the other goodies, neither of us wanted to taste the 'fruitcake' bars because neither of us liked fruitcake. Finally, I relented and picked it up to smell it and then taste it. Whoa! This isn't fruitcake! This isn't even remotely similar to fruitcake at all. It was so good that I later had to ask my co-worker, (who became a dear, dear friend) for the recipe.
That was back around 1991 and I've been making this recipe ever since. That dear friend passed away from breast cancer a few years ago and although I think of her a few times during the year for random reasons, it's without a doubt that she comes to mind every single year when I make these bars.
Not at ALL like fruitcake except they use candied fruit and nuts; it's a graham cracker and marshmallow base and once people get over the 'fruitcake' connotation, these bars fly off the serving plate.
No Bake Fruitcake Bars
1 lb. butter*
1 lb. mini marshmallows
3/4 c evaporated milk
1 lb. pecans
1/2 lb. walnuts
1/2 lb. whole green candied cherries
1/2 lb. whole red candied cherries
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. graham cracker crumbs
Melt the butter, marshmallows and evaporated milk in a pan on the stove over low to medium heat. In a very large bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. Add the melted marshmallow mixture. Stir and mix well. Press into a greased or foil lined 9X13" pan. Press flat and freeze or refrigerate overnight. Thaw a bit before slicing to make it easier. Slice into 3 long sections or rows and slice each row into thin slices to serve.
**I've been using a little less butter over the past few years (perhaps 3 1/4 sticks instead of 4) and it's been perfectly fine. Feel free to cut back a bit on the butter if you want to try it that way. You can also change the amounts of the nuts, raisins and cherries, etc. I've used craisins some years, and doubled the red cherries and halved the green cherries, etc. You can play with this recipe a bit.
An easy way to press into the pan is to use a piece of plastic wrap on the top and then press or roll it flat.
