FRUITY BRAN MUFFINS
Makes 24
250ml nutty wheat flour
375ml cake flour
500ml digestive bran
5ml salt
10ml bicarbonate of soda
250ml dried fruit cake mix
250ml chopped dates
300ml soft brown sugar
10ml vanilla essence
560ml milk
125ml oil
2 eggs
Put the nutty wheat, flour and bran into a bowl. Mix well. Add the salt, bicarbonate of soda, fruit mix, dates and sugar and mix. Combine the vanilla, milk, oil and eggs and stir into the dry ingredients.
Put spoonfuls of mixture into well greased muffin cups and bake at 180°C for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with butter and jam.
Pour the batter into a container with a lid and refrigerate until required.
This mixture keeps well in the fridge for up to 30 days. Just take out enough batter to bake as many muffins as you need and return the rest to the fridge.
FRUIT TEA RING
500ml flour
30ml castor sugar
10ml baking powder
100g butter
1 egg, beaten
125ml plain yoghurt
milk to mix
Filling
80g butter, softened
50ml castor sugar
10ml cinnamon
250ml dried fruit cake mix
Icing
125ml icing sugar
water to mix
Combine the flour, sugar and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Combine the egg and yoghurt and add to the flour mixture with enough milk to form a dough that is soft but not sticky.
Turn the dough on to a floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Roll the dough into a 30x40cm rectangle.
FILLING: Combine butter, sugar and cinnamon and spread over the dough. Sprinkle over the fruit. Roll up from the long side like a Swiss roll. Place the rolled dough on to a baking tray lined with baking paper and shape it into a circle, pinching the ends together to seal.
Use clean scissors to cut through the dough at 3cm intervals from the outer edge. Open up the cut edges. Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and cool. Drizzle with icing.
ICING: Combine the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick icing.
FRUIT AND NUT CHOCOLATE SQUARES
Makes 15
350g dried fruit cake mix
100g slivered almonds, lightly toasted
250g glacé cherries
80ml flour
160g butter
125ml honey
1 egg, beaten
200g dark chocolate, melted
Mix together the fruit, almonds, cherries and flour in a bowl.
Combine the butter and honey in a small saucepan and heat until melted.
Add this to fruit mixture together with the egg. Mix well. Press the mixture into a greased and lined 18x23cm lamington pan and bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool completely.
Spread over the melted chocolate and refrigerate until set.
Cut into squares using a sharp knife.
FRUIT TEA BREAD
350g dried fruit cake mix
500ml boiling water
2 fruit-flavoured tea bags
60ml orange marmalade
180ml caramel brown sugar
grated rind of 1 orange
10ml vanilla essence
2 eggs
80ml sunflower oil
875ml self-raising flour
250ml chopped pecan nuts
Put the fruit into a bowl and pour over the boiling water.
Add the tea bags, cover and stand overnight.
The next day, squeeze out the tea bags and discard them.
Add the marmalade, sugar, rind and vanilla essence and mix well.
Combine the eggs and oil and add to the fruit.
Add the flour in two batches and mix well.
Add pecan nuts and mix.
Spoon mixture into a greased and base-lined 28x12cm cake pan.
Bake at 160°C for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
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