Baby Fruitcakes

There are so many less-than-wonderful fruitcakes around that plenty of people say they’ll be happy if they never see a fruitcake again. These are something else entirely—tiny glazed cakes, chunky with the best dried fruits and nuts (rather than commercial chopped candied fruit), bound with a minimum of spice cake batter. You’ll need miniature muffin tins for these, though a regular-size muffin pan can also be used. Nonstick pans are a big help here, as are paper muffin liners.