Just when I had given up finding a similar recipe, I came across this recipe in an old recipe book my grandmother used.  Its long since lost its cover so I have no idea of the origin of the book or the recipe.  Grandma had no notes beside it and I don’t remember her making it.  So at this stage its going up untried on askmumnow.com

If you make this do let me know how it turns out because I really want these recipes to be ‘tried and true’

Ingredients

1 kg packet mixed fruit
250 gms butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
1 can sweetened condensed milk (400gms)
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons sherry or brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves

Method

1. Prepare a 22cm square or round cake tin. Grease the base and sides and line with the whole tin with cake baking or greaseproof paper
2. Cut the paper to fit the base and then cut strips to line the sides of the tin. Brush the paper with a greased pastry brush or a knife that has been dipped in cooking oil.  Put prepared tin to one side until you are ready to mix the cake
3. Heat the oven to 170° C
4. Put mixed fruit, butter soda and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Allow to cool
5. Add condensed milk, vinegar, sherry/brandy and vanilla essence
6. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and ground cloves and gradually add to the fruit mixture
7. Put into the greased paper lined tin and bake at 150º for 2 hours.
8. Check after 90 minutes that the top isn’t burning.  If the fruit is starting to look dark brown or even black, cover the top of the cake with a double sheet of greaseproof or baking paper
9. Check with a skewer or very thin bladed knife. If the blade/skewer comes out clean the cake is cooked
10. When cooked, leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning it out

Traditional Christmas cake icing consists of an almond paste covered with a smooth white icing mixture.  Check out how to do it here.

If you like almonds, you can decorate your cake by placing almonds over the top of your cake before you cook it.  Then you have an attractive cake that doesn’t need to be iced.

This old family favourite has been in the Edmonds Cookery books and is also a staple offering at many city cafes now..

Ingredients

125 gms butter, softened
100 gms (1/3 cup) sugar
250 gms (2 cups) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Sift flour, baking powder and ginger together
3. Mix into creamed mixture
4. Press dough into a greased 20 x 30 cm sponge roll tin
5. Bake at 190°C for 20-25 minutes or until light brown
6. Ice while hot with Ginger Icing
7. Cut into squares when cool. Makes 24 squares.

Ginger Icing

Ingredients

50 gms butter
125 gms (½ cup) icing sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ cup crystallized ginger cut into small pieces

Method

1. In a small saucepan combine butter, icing sugar, golden syrup and ginger
2. Heat until butter is melted, stirring constantly
3. Spread evenly over the hot cake mixture
4. Sprinkle the crystallized ginger over the icing.

Now falling to pieces, Grandma’s black recipe book is full of memories – the handwriting of various women in the family, the names of people who provided recipes such as Mrs Waymouth’s fruit cake, Edna’s sponge.

These recipes were often tasted at a formal Sunday afternoon tea and recipes swapped afterwards.

“It was a great recipe for me to start with as a young girl and came in very handy when I left home to go renting in Hamilton.
Later on I found an egg added to the mix tastes really good as well,so the recipe has evolved some”.

Ingredients

170 gms (6 oz) butter
1 tablespoon cocoa
130 gms (4 oz) sugar
4½ crushed weetbix
1½ cups self raising flour

Method

1. Melt butter and pour over other ingredients. Mix well.
2. Press into greased sponge roll tin.
3. Bake 15 mins 180 deg C (or 350 deg F)
4. Ice when cold.

1 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cups flour
1 teaspoons salt
½ cup milk, cold
½ cup boiling water
25 gm butter, melted
1 egg
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup mixed fruit or sultanas
2 teaspoons mixed spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups flour

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Method

1. Measure the yeast mixture, flour, brown sugar and salt into a large bowl. Stir to mix and then add the cold milk followed by the boiling water. Stir thoroughly to mix.
2. Leave to stand for 3 minutes. Melt the butter and assemble the rest of the ingredients.
3. Once the 3 minutes is up, stir in the rest of the ingredients except for the flour.
4. Now add as much flour as need to make a dough just firm enough to turn out on a board and knead. [The original recipe suggests 3 cups. I needed 4.].
5. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth and satiny and it springs back when you press it with a finger.
6. Oil a large bowl and turn the dough ball in this until it is all coated. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and leave to stand until it doubles it original bulk.
7. Turn out on a floured board, knead lightly and cut into 30 evenly sized pieces.Form each piece into a ball and arrange the buns in rows in a dish or pan with at least 1 cm between them. A roasting dish works well and takes about 15 buns.
8. Preheat the oven to 220°C and when ready turn the heat down to 200°C.
9. Put crosses on the buns.Make a paste of the flour and oil and then add enough water to make a dough that can be forced out of an icing bag. Pipe the crosses on the buns.
10. Put the buns in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until they brown slightly and feel firm. Remove from oven and glaze with a hot syrup made by heating sugar and water.
11. Cool buns on a rack. Store in airtight containers when cold.

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (blood heat – approximately 37°C)
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon dried yeast
½ cup mixed fruit or sultanas
2 teaspoons mixed spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup extra flour

Method

1. Turn on the oven and warm to 50°C.
2. Measure the warm water into a small bowl.
3. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
4. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water.   Leave in a warm place (see notes below for ideas for a warm place)  for 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy.
5. Sift the flour,  salt and spices into a warm bowl. Stir the frothy yeast mixture well then pour into the flour. Beat well with a wooden spoon.
6. Cover the bowl with a wet teatowel and put into the 50°C oven for 10 minutes to allow the dough to rise.
7. Stir the mixture till you have a soft dough (not sticky, not dry and crumbly).  If sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.  If too dry, add up to 1 tablespoon water a little at a time.
8. Tip on to a floured board and knead for 5 minutes.
9. The kneading process is a fold, push and turn movement.  Fold the far side of the dough towards you with your left hand, then press down with the heel of your right hand and push the dough away from you.  Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat until the dough is no longer sticky.
10. To test if the dough is kneaded enough, dent the dough with a finger.  When ready, the dent will fill in so you can just see where the dent was.
11. To make the hot cross buns, break off 12 evenly sized pieces of dough and roll into balls.
12. Place the balls on a warm greased oven tray or warm greased muffin pans.
13. To make the cross make two deep cuts in the dough at right angles to each other. Make the cuts really deep, almost right through to the base as the dough will rise around it and you’ll lose the cross if you just cut a shallow one.
14. Cover with a wet tea towel and leave to rise in a 50°C oven for about 10 minutes or until about doubled in size.
15. Brush with sugar and water to glaze (1 tablespoon sugar dissolved in 1 tablespoon water).
16. Turn upthe oven till it reaches 220°C
17. Bake hot cross buns at 220°C for 10-15 minutes.

Makes approximately 12 buns

Notes:

The key to making these rolls quickly (1- 1 ½ hours including rising time) is the warmth incorporated during the process. This speeds up the work the yeast does in the bread rising process.

If you have time you can allow the rising process to take longer.  The key is for the dough to double in size.

Depending on what warm place you use, you can modify the time according to your situation.

To warm the bowl, pour in hot water, tip the water out and dry the bowl thoroughly.

A warm place is a sunny window sill or kitchen bench, the oven at 50°C or the hot water cupboard

If you want to, you can make pastry crosses by mixing 1/4 cup flour with 2 tablespoons oil to a paste.

Then add enough water to make a dough that can be forced out of an icing bag or rolled out thin.

Pipe the crosses on the buns or roll the dough out and cut into thin strips and place over the buns.

Here’s a recipe for glutenfree cheese scones that I made recently.  They freeze well too.  I’ve popped some into the freezer so I can get them out and take them to work for a snack or lunch.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups gluten free flour
2 taspoons gluten free baking powder (or 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar and ½ teaspoon baking soda)
2/3 cup tasty cheese, grated
¼ cup cooking oil
2/3 cup milk
½ teaspoon chilli powder (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C
2. Put the dry ingredients into a bowl
3. Stir in the oil and milk
4. Add the grated cheese and mix together lightly.  The mixture should be slightly sticky – not too wet and not dry and crumbly
5. Turn on to a lightly greased oven tray and knead gently with your fingers to get the ingredients well combined
6. Mould the mixture into an oblong and cut into 6 evenly sized pieces.  Separate the pieces of dough a little
7. Bake for 15 minutes
8. When the scones are golden brown, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Makes six medium sized scones.

Ingredients

One cake of your choice
2 cups icing sugar
Red food colouring
Hot water
Heart shaped chocolates

Method

1. Bake your cake in a square or round tin that is large enough for you to be able to cut a heart shape out of it.
2. While the cake is cooking, cut a heart shaped template out of baking paper or clean cardboard
3. Let the cake cool then cut it to a heart shape using your template
4. Make the icing with icing sugar and water, and when it is of a consistency that will let you spread it over the top of the cake and down the sides, add enough food colouring, drop by drop, until it is red (or dark pink)
5. Add more water or icing sugar if necessary for a spreadable mixture.
6. Spread the icing all over the cake
7. Decorate with heart shaped cholcolates.

If you are using a bought unfilled sponge cake:

1. Separate the two pieces of cake and fill with whipped cream.  You can colour this pink or red with food colouring if you choose
2. Sandwich the two pieces of cake together and cover with red icing as above

Serve with love

Ingredients

2 cups flour
½ cup bran
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk (or ½ cup milk, ¼ cup plain yoghurt)
½ cup cooking oil
1 cup mashed banana

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Lightly grease 12 medium muffin pans
3. Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil and mashed banana
5. Add to the dry ingredients and stir till the two mixtures are just combined.
6. Fill the muffin pans about 2/3 full
7. Bake at 200°C for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown
8. Turn out on to a cake rack to cool or serve immediately with margarine, honey or yoghurt.

Notes

1. Muffins should have a rounded top. If you over-beat the muffin mixtures as you combine them your muffins will rise into sharp peaks.
2. You can make thse muffins without bran if you want to, just increase the amount of flour by the amount of bran you are not using.
3. Varations include adding ¼- ½ cup chocolate chips or blueberries.
4. Muffins freeze well so if you want to keep some for another day, put them in a plastic bag or freezer container as soon as they are cool and freeze immediately.
5. For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free flours and cornmeal instead of ordinary flour and bran.  Add an extra egg to help the mixture stick together.

Try these rich but rather delectable little Christmas mince tarts with a gluten-free ‘pastry’

Ingredients

1 ½ cups gluten-free flour or mix your own using rice, potato and tapioca flour
1 egg
¼ cup milk
1/2cup oil
250 gm pottle fruit mince

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200° C
2. Grease a 12-cup standard size muffin pan by brushing lightly with melted margarine or cooking oil
3. Sift the flour in a bowl
4. Whisk the egg with the oil and stir into the flour
5. Add enough milk to make a firm dough that can be rolled out (If it’s too sticky add a little more flour)
6. Roll out the pastry till 2-3mm thick and cut into circles with biscuit cutters or kitchen cups or glasses
7. For the base cut the circle a bit bigger than the size of the top of the muffin cup.  For the top cut a circle a little smaller so it fits across the top of the tart base and filling
8. Put the larger circles into the base of the muffin cups and flatten to fit
9. Fill with 1 – 1½  teaspoons fruit mince
10. Wet the rim of the pastry top with water and press into place on top of the tart. The wet edge will stick to the base to prevent leakage of the filling
11. Bake for 10 minutes until the pastry begins to turn brown
12. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire tray
13. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm
14. If you’re making these ahead of when they’re going to be eaten, reheat in a warm oven 120° C for about 5 minutes and then dust with icing sugar before serving.

Ingredients

1 packet short crust pastry
250 gm pottle fruit mince

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200° C
2. Grease a 12-cup standard size muffin pan by brushing lightly with melted margarine or cooking oil
3. Roll out a sheet of pastry till 2-3mm thick and cut into circles with biscuit cutters or kitchen cups or glasses
4. For the base cut the circle a bit bigger than the size of the top of the muffin cup.  For the top, cut a circle a little smaller so it fits across the top of the tart base and filling
5. Put the larger circles into the base of the muffin cups and flatten to fit
6. Fill with 1 – 1½  teaspoons fruit mince
7. Dampen the rim of the pastry top with cold water and press into place on top of the tart. The wet edge will stick to the base to prevent leakage of the filling
8. Bake for 10 minutes until the pastry begins to turn brown
9. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire tray
10. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm
11. If you’re making these ahead of time, reheat in a warm oven (120° C) and dust with icing sugar just before serving.