Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
November 19, 2011

Among the letters we received this week, many listeners shared their love of autumn in response to guest host Linda Wertheimer’s essay on the simple joys of the season.

“I connected immediately with Linda’s essay on autumn. Her appreciation for a singular maple leaf, the claiming of this ideal time of year between Halloween and Thanksgiving,” wrote Michael Ehl of Issaquah, Wash.

That essay included one of Linda’s childhood memories of the season — the house filled with the scent of bourbon as her mom made fruitcakes for her dad’s customers at his neighborhood grocery store.

That prompted Gary Cooke of Seattle to write, “As a fan of that much-maligned food group, the fruitcake, I wish you would share the recipe. … All day today, I’ve been trying to imagine the aroma of lemons and bourbon rising from a light golden cake.”

Imagine no more; here’s the recipe. It originally made 40 fruitcakes, but Linda’s mother slimmed it down before she passed it on. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]