Fruit Flan

What I love love love about any summer pudding or dessert at brunch is the BEAUtiful array of fruits in store. Nothing says summer like ripe fruits stacked on a light cake or in a sweet pastry that can be enjoyed with cream in the garden. I love it! I've just made this flan and (call it geeky or weird) I can't help but feel warm inside when I look at this flan :D

SUPER SIMPLE Granola Pots

So what with our healthy diet, I've been experimenting with low fat and low cholesterol foods - a novelty. I've always been fairly conscious of what I eat in recent years after stopping 5 day-a-week swimming training in year 11. However, as summer kicks in, I've a new-found drive to eat healthy food that's both filling and quick. This is definitely a breakfast, snack or dessert that ticks all of those boxes for me.

Granola Pots:

Ingredients:
A handful of blueberries
A handful of red grapes
A handful of raspberries
30g sultanas
4 dessert spoons of 'fat-free'/ low fat or skimmed natural yogurt
2 dessert spoons of rolled oats (porridge)

Method:
1. Wash your fruit
2. Place at the bottom of a tall glass
3. Spoon over the yogurt
4. Sprinkle the oats on top

As you can probably gather, this is a very basic recipe but you can always change any of the fruits for whatever you want; perhaps try dried apricots and bananas or strawberries and kiwi. You can, if the rolled oats aren't your thing, crumble a granola bar on top of the yogurt, toast your oats for 2 mins before placing atop or use a breakfast cereal such as cornflakes or a 'Jordan's' variety to pack in that crunch.

The end result should look something like this - I haven't made this; the image is purely for exemplification purposes (www.realfood.tesco.com)

Juicy Teabread

This is a very quick, store-cupboard fruit loaf (or teabread) that is a perfect uni recipe or alternatively a lazy Saturday one (or Sunday if you're not in the middle-east). I've made this before and I find it so tasty so I wanted to share it with you.

Juicy Teabread
Ingredients:
Soaked fruit (150g raisins, 150g dried apricots and 50g glace cherries soaked for 30 mins in 150ml boiling water)
75g brown sugar
1 egg
175g self-raising flour

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C

1. Grease and line a loaf tin
2. Add the sugar and egg to the soaked fruit, folding in with a spoon
3. Sift in the flour into the same bowl and fold in until completely combined
4. Place in the oven for 50 minutes checking that the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer and ensuring that it comes out clean 
5. After 10 minutes, turn out the cake onto a wire rack to cool

NYE Mincemeat and Apricot Plait

Happy New Years (Eve!!!) This is a quick recipe that I've rustled up this evening for my family - our last of 2012. It's super super quick (because it cuts corners) and is a very easy way of using up your leftover mincemeat. I wish you could have seen the one I made before because it was far better than the pictured (unfortunately we ate it already :D)

Mincemeat and Apricot Plait (Serves 6)
Ingredients:
225g ready-made puff pastry
1 jar of good-quality mincemeat (for example; Robertson's)
15 dried apricots
1 beaten egg

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees C

1. Clean and then grease your work top surface
2. Roll out the puff pastry until about 1cm thick and in a rectangular shape
3. Place it so that the short end is facing you and the longer sides are running vertical 
4. Gently score, lengthways, markings of the thirds 
5. Evenly spread the mincemeat down the centre third 
6. Dice the apricots and place ontop of the mince
7. With the outer thirds, cut diagonal strips about 5cm thick on each side (so as they match), ensuring that they still remain attached to the middle body of the pastry
8. Begin with the left side and lay the top strip over the filling
9. Move to the right side and do the same
10. Continue until all the strips have been laid over the filling and resemble a plait shape
11. Now brush the pastry lightly with the egg and place in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and opaque
12. Serve cold with cream, custard or ice cream