Apricot apple fruit loaf and a Cat's Decision

It must be the gradual change in the weather, but with the coming of Spring, I’ve been buzzing around like a busy bee. Flitting from task to task, home to work then back again, daydreaming of holidays on deserted islands. Multi-tasking to the max!

As a result, there hasn’t been much time to prepare photo-worthy meals for this blog (apologies). I mean, shoving a couple of frozen fish fillets and a tray of beer-battered potato fries into the oven after a day at the office doesn’t really make for riveting browsing, does it? Or does it????

Don’t worry, though. There is an hour free on weekends that allows for baking of sweet treats, so be prepared for a couple of recipes (max. two) featuring biscuits and bread.

And here’s the bread recipe, cos I like to keep my promises. It's a loaf that's full of fruit and yet gluten-free, thanks to the gluten-free flour that I received from the nice people at Vitarium. Speaking of which, I have to mention the Great Vitarium Bake Off (details here) - lots of recipes and great prizes for cooking with their product, and it's all gluten-free.

Apricot and Apple Fruit Loaf

serves 10

Ingredients

1 cup dried apricots, halved

1 cup dried apple slices, roughly chopped

½ cup dried cranberries (Craisins)

½ cup caster sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups gluten-free self-raising flour

1 ¾ cups milk

½ cup flaked almonds

butter, to serve

Method

1. Combine apricots, apple, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon and flour in a bowl. Add 1 ½ cups milk. Stir to combine. Cover. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Grease a 6cm-deep, 10cm x 20cm (base) loaf pan. Stand apricot mixture at room temperature for 10 minutes. Stir in remaining milk. Add half the almonds. Stir until just combined.

3. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining almonds. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve toasted with butter.

recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Delicious dried fruits: apple, apricots and cranberries

These are soaked overnight with flour and milk, so you should start this recipe the day before.

The gluten-free SF flour has a very fine texture and produces a light-textured loaf with a crisp crust.

Look at how luscious that fruit is.

All the bread needs is a light toasting and lots of butter.

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A Cat's Decision:

Tabitha cat thinks: "Should I try the loaf on the left or the warm buttered slice on the right?"

"Left".

"Or right?"

Tabitha: "The cats of Australia have made their choice.

  Buttered fruit loaf, here I come...".

Bel (in the background): "Eeek! I'd better stop taking photos and move my toast...!"

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Don't forget that you could win  a Subscription to Baked and Delicious magazine which includes 60 issues of Baked and Delicious (with silicone bakeware) and 4 exclusive (subscriber only) gifts, the total worth being $1,105.00.

Click here to enter!!!

Hurry, entries close 26th September 2011!