Here is the infamous fruit bread recipe I have mentioned several times. It isn't really fruitcake because it's not as sweet. As you can see, it's mostly dried fruit with some flour and eggs to hold it together. I love the stuff! This recipe was sent to me from my Mom's cousin, Joachim, in Germany. The recipe makes about 24 small loaves about as big and your hand. You may want to make a half or quarter recipe if you don't want so much, but it's nice to make a big batch and give them out for Christmas.

FYI: a pound is about 500g. You can look on the package to find the weight in grams - I find these weights much handier than cup measurements.

Fruechtebrot

750g Prunes
250g Dried Pears
400g Dried Apricots
400g Dates
1000g Figs
500g Raisins
250g Walnuts
250g Hazelnuts
200g Slivered Almonds
5 Eggs
250 g Honey
200g Brown Sugar
500g Candied Orange and Lemon Peel
1500g Whole Wheat Flour

Spices (no amounts specified - it's up to you):
Anise
Coriander
Cardamon
Cloves
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Allspice
Vanilla

a) Beat together eggs, spices, honey, sugar and nuts until foamy
b) Soak prunes in 3 cups warm water
c) Cut figs, apricots, and dates in strips
d) Mix all the fruits together and add about 100g of the flour to separate the big lumps
e) Mix egg mixture (a) with the fruit mixture (d) and add 1-2 cups of the prune soaking water
f) Mix the flour with 3T of baking powder
g) Slowly add the flour mixture to (e). Knead well. The dough should be quite firm.
h) With wet hands, form small loaves about the size of my hand (I have smallish hands). Optional: i) Brush the loaves with egg white and decorate with nuts and/or candied fruit

Bake at 400 deg F (200 deg C) - Joachim didn't tell me how long, but I usually leave them in for about 45 minutes. Just keep checking to make sure they don't burn

Enjoy!