Grandma's Fruit Loaf...

This recipe of my Grandma's produces you a lovely moist, yet light fruit loaf with a subtle caramel/malt-y flavour. It's the ultimate fruit loaf. Well, if Grandma makes it that is. If anyone else tries you end up with something acceptable, but the magic isn't quite there. This is my latest attempt and was pretty decent considering I didn't have the 'secret' ingredient in.

The original recipe is for 2 loaves, which is why I accidentally photographed 2 eggs.

• Melt butter, sugar and half a cup of water in a pan over a medium heat.
• Add the fruit and leave to cool.
• Combine flour and nuts with 2 tablespoons of Horlicks (secret ingredient), then fold in the flour and the egg (beaten).
• Bake for about 1 hour at 150-160°C. You may want to cover the top half way so the fruit doesn't burn.

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Raisin & Walnut Scones...

The basic scone mixture is my Grandma’s tried and tested recipe, although no one can make them quite as well as her! For this variation I added fruit and nuts.

• Preheat your oven to 200°C
• Rub flour and butter together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the sugar, walnuts, raisins and lemon zest.
• Make a well in centre and add the eggs.
• Quickly combine into a soft dough that is just on the dry side of sticky.
• Roll out to ½ inch thick and cut into rounds.
• Bake for about 10 minutes on a greased baking sheet.


Notes:
• I have used ¼ wholemeal flour and ¾ white.
• Anything can be added to the main flour/butter/egg mixture, it's your choice.

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Date & Walnut Slices...

Date slice or date crumble has long been a family favourite with my Mum making an excellent example. I felt like giving it a go and thought a slight twist on the classic recipe would be fun so added walnuts and honey.

Dates (300g, stoned & chopped)
Plain Flour (250g)
Butter (250g)
Brown Sugar (50g)
Walnuts (100g)
Oats (50g)
Honey (2 tbsp)

• Place dates & honey in a saucepan over medium heat with a splash of water.
• Stir until the dates have become a thick, paste-like consistency.
• Crush half the walnuts and stir in. Set aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, combine flour and butter to make the crumble mixture (easiest in a food processor). It needs to resemble crumbs, don’t over-do it or it will become a ball of pastry.
• Blitz the other half of the walnuts into the crumble mixture, then stir in the oats and sugar.
• Place half the crumble into a greased 20x20cm square tin to form a base and press down.
• Spread the date mixture over the base and top with the remaining crumble, pushing down lightly.
• Bake for 25-30mins in a preheated oven at 170°C.

Notes:
I used half’n’half wholemeal flour, but it’s not essential.

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