Unexpected dried fruit 'windfall'

[Paddy's mum]

Hubby just got back from T***o with about 50 bags of dried fruit, all close to sell-by date (we always call it the salmonella shelf!) reduced from £1.59 to 15p for prunes, and to 30p for apricots. We'll eat a lot of them as is.

Any suggestions on the best way to keep the remainder - do they freeze well - or if not, any recipes for cakes or tealoaf type items. I treated myself at Christmas to the smallest Kenwood Chef, so batch making/baking would not be a problem. Any suggestions most gladly received.

[funkypixie]

Dried Apricot Jam is glorious - I'll dig the recipe out if you're interested?

Anna x

[Shirley]

I am!!! Pleaaaaaaassssseeeee

[Chickpea]

You don't need to freeze them, PM, they're already preserved. If you like eating them as they are just keep them in a jar or something and eat them as you need them. But I love apricots cooked with chicken dishes (or quorn) and chickpeas (it's true, I'm a cannibal) and spices like cumin and cinnamon to make Morrocan-style dishes. Prunes are lovely chopped up and used in place of raisins or sultanas in tea-bread recipes and all kinds of fruit cake. I belive Nigella likes them a lot so you might find some recipes on her site. Or you could dice both types of fruit and add to home-made muesli, or porridge.

[red]

make wine with them...

[Millymollymandy]

...... or chutney

[Paddy's mum]

Thank you for your suggestions. Today I had an 'experimental' baking session, and the cakes turned out very well.

For those interested, the recipe follows. I doubled up on everything while adapting a Mary Berry Fruit Loaf recipe - halve amounts below to get a one cake amount.


1 x 250g bag dried apricots 1 x 250g bag dried prunes
(Give these a quick whizz in a blender with the eggs)


16oz S R flour 12oz soft marge or butter
12oz gran. or light brown sugar 6 eggs
1 x 100g bag mixed, chopped nuts lge teasp baking powder

I used the all in one method, just giving the whole lot a couple of minutes in the mixer, adding milk to give a firm dropping consistency. I got two x 2lb loaf tins plus a 1lb loaf tin. Bake at 325/160/mark 3 for about an hour and a half but covered with paper nearing the end.

Makes a nice, firm, slightly peachy coloured cake which is not at all doughy. I'm very pleased and will definitely bake this mixture again. (I'm going to call it Paddy's Mum's Mmmmmm!)