Posts Tagged ‘raisins’
Fruity mincemeat with almonds
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Ingredients
* 4 Bramley apples , peeled, cored and grated
* 350g light muscovado sugar
* zest and juice 1 orange
* zest and juice 1 lemon
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
* ¼ tsp ground cloves
* ¼ tsp allspice
* 100g dried cranberries
* 100g sultanas
* 100g raisins
* 100g currants
* 100ml brandy
* 85g flaked almonds
* 100g shredded suet or light shredded vegetable suet
Method
1. Put the grated apple and any juices, sugar, and orange and lemon zests and juices into a large saucepan. Bring gently to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the spices, dried fruit and brandy. Set aside until cool.
2. Once cool, stir in the almonds and suet. Divide between sterilised jars or plastic containers for the freezer. Will keep unopened in the fridge for up to 3 months, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Tags: all spice, almonds, bramley apple, cinnamon, cloves, Cranberry, currants, lemon, nutmeg, orange, raisins, sultanas
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Figgy Christmas Pudding
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Ingredients
* 250g pack butter , softened, plus extra for the bowls and paper
* 750g dried figs
* 150ml brandy
* 700g mixed sultanas and raisins
* 3 eating apples , peeled, cored and grated
* 175g light muscovado sugar
* 175g dark brown soft sugar
* 200g breadcrumbs
* 200g self-raising flour
* 1 tbsp allspice
Method
1. Butter a 500ml, a 1-litre and a 2-litre pudding bowl, then line the base of each with a circle of baking parchment. Butter 3 large sheets of greaseproof paper, lay each on a large sheet of foil butter side up, and fold a pleat in the middle of each.
2. Roughly chop 250g of the figs and set aside. Put the remaining figs, butter and brandy into a food processor and whizz until smooth-ish, then scrape into your largest mixing bowl. Tip in the chopped figs, mixed vine fruits, grated apple, sugars, breadcrumbs, flour and allspice. Stir everything together, allowing as many helpers to give a stir and adding as many wishes as you like. Divide between the pudding bowls and smooth the surfaces.
3. Cover the puds with the buttered paper-foil sheets, tie with string and trim. Lower the puds into separate saucepans with upturned saucers or scrunched up bits of foil in the bottom (so the puds don’t touch the bottom), then fill each pan with enough boiling water from the kettle to come halfway up the sides of the bowl. Cover with a lid and simmer the small pud for 1-1½ hrs, medium for 2-2½ hrs and large for 3 hrs, topping up the water as needed. Remove and leave to cool. If giving as a gift, put a new piece of parchment on top. Will keep in a cool, dry cupboard for up to a year.
On the big day…
Steam the puds as above to reheat – they’ll take half the time they took to cook, to heat through.
Tags: all spice, apple, figs, raisins, sultanas
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Chocolate Fruit Cake
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Ingredients
* 200g butter
* 200g dark brown soft sugar
* 100g dark chocolate (we used 80%) broken into chunks
* 75ml brandy
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 250g raisins
* 250g currants
* 100g dried cranberries
* 100g dried sour cherries
* 100g mixed peel
* 200g self-raising flour
* 100g ground almonds
* 3 tbsp cocoa
* 1 tsp mixed spice
* 3 eggs , beaten with a fork
Method
1. Put the butter, sugar, chocolate, brandy, vanilla and dried fruits into a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until everything has melted together. Remove from the heat.
2. Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep cake tin, 20cm round or 18cm square, with a double layer of baking parchment. Wrap a few layers of newspaper around the outside and secure with string.
3. Mix the flour, almonds, cocoa and spice together. Stir the eggs into the slightly cooled chocolate mixture in the saucepan, followed by the flour mixture. Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for 1½ hrs- 1 hr 45 mins or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then decorate (see ‘Goes well with’, right, for decoration ideas). Greaseproof-wrapped cake will keep for 2 months in an airtight container.
Tags: Cranberry, currants, eggs, raisins
Posted in Christmas, Pudding and desserts | No Comments »
Apple Butterscotch Crumble Tart
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
ingredients
serves 6 – 8
225 g (8 oz) rich sweet shortcrust pastry
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour (or half wholemeal and half white self-raising flour)
55 g (2 oz) oats
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
115 g (4 oz) demerara sugar
140 g (5 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
115 g (4 oz) butter
115 g (4 oz) light soft brown sugar
900 g (2 lb) eating apples (preferably Cox’s Orange Pippins), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
finely grated zest of 1 orange
85 g (3 oz) raisins
a little demerara sugar, to sprinkle (optional)
method
1. Line a deep 23cm (9 in) tart tin with the pastry and pre-bake or bake blind. Pre-heat the oven to 190‚°C (375‚°F) Gas 5.
2. Prepare the crumble first, as it turns out more crunchy if it can enjoy a few minutes’ rest in the freezer before cooking.
Mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter for just a minute or two until partly absorbed and the mixture is beginning to stick. Place the bowl in the freezer until you have made the filling.
3. Melt the butter and soft brown sugar in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a low heat. Add the apple slices. Cover and cook them in the buttery sauce for a few minutes – just enough to enable the apples to soften, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, add the orange zest and raisins, stir to mix, then pour the mixture into the pre-baked pastry case.
5. Cover the buttery apples with the crumble mixture. If you wish, you can sprinkle with a little demerara sugar.
6. Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until brown and the fruit juices are oozing up around the edges.
Serve hot or warm with good dairy ice cream or creme fraiche.
Tags: broccoli, oats, raisins
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