Arguably the best thing about Christmas is the special ‘Christmas only’ food (that and being able to justify gorging on said food because ‘it’s Christmas!’)
I don’t bake very often as our oven is terrible and I have no willpower when it comes to sweets in the house. However, I am prepared to put all this aside in the name of Christmas, particularly if the recipes are quick and foolproof.
About four years ago my family and I attended a Christmas baking class at Kitchen Warehouse run by Kate Nelson, and from this class came the recipe that was to change my Christmas baking forever. It tastes completely delicious, and is a great way to use up all your left over dried fruit.
This is essentially the recipe (I have tweaked it just a tad and changed the name):
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SCRUMPTIOUS CHRISTMAS FRUIT SLICE!!!
What you will need:
- 250 g butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 2 cups of dried fruit (dried cherries work a treat if you can find them, otherwise I love mixing dried cranberries, sultanas and chopped dried apricots)
- 1 cup of slivered almonds (+ extra for the topping)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of self-raising flour
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How to make it:
- PREHEAT THE OVEN (I always forget to do this).
- Add the butter, sugars, dried fruit and almonds into a saucepan, and stir on a low heat until combined.
- Take the saucepan off the heat and add in the flour, eggs and mixed spice.
- Pour into a slice tray (the one I use is about 28 cm x 18 cm x 4 cm) and sprinkle slivered almonds over the top.
- Cook for about thirty minutes at a moderate temperature in your PREHEATED OVEN.
- Take the cake out of the oven while it’s still a little bit moist. That way when it cools it’s all chewy and delicious.
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If I can get motivated to do any more Christmas cooking I will post those recipes up too, otherwise this will be Part One of One.
Do you have any favourite Christmas recipes? If so, I’d love to hear about them!
Matilda Whitworth 