Recipe: Apricot, Cranberry & Nut Loaf

You should see my boy's face all lit up when I picked him up from school and told him that we were baking a loaf/cake. It's one of his favorite afternoon activities, spending the afternoon in the kitchen with me.

Today we are baking an apricot, cranberry and nut loaf - an easy and quick kids-friendly recipe as it only requires measuring out the ingredients and mixing it in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. For this loaf, you can use any of your favorite dried fruits or nuts.

The batter is then poured into a loaf tin and baked for 55-60 minutes. We let it cool a little before we had a few slices for tea time. And boy, was it delicious!

This would be perfect for Christmas!

Mmmmm it sure smells good, says baker boy!

A really moist loaf, studded with our favorite fruits and nuts. The orange rind lends a lovely aroma to this loaf. We like eating this loaf warm, but it is also very good once cooled completely. Good with a cuppa tea or coffee, and slather on some extra butter if you like. :)

Thanks Baby D for making this wonderful loaf for the whole family!

A couple of announcements - For the whole month of November 2014, Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Grace from Life can be simple and I (Yen) from Eat Your Heart Out will be cooking and baking Bobby Flay's recipes for "Cook Like a Star" event.

Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and I will be hosting a Christmas event for the whole month of December and a Chinese New Year (CNY) event for the whole month of February 2015. Do join us and hope to see your recipes then! :)




Apricot, cranberry and nut loaf
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Baking cookbook
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 55-60 minutes
Makes 1 loaf


Ingredients
115g dried apricots, roughly chopped
1 large orange
85g dried cranberries
100g caster sugar
85ml oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
55g almond flakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (no fan). Grease and base-line a 9x5 inch loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the orange rind only. Then, finely chop the orange rind with a sharp knife. Place into a bowl with the cranberries and apricots.

3. Squeeze the peeled orange. Place into a measuring jug, then top up with hot water to obtain 175ml liquid.

4. Pour the orange juice mixture (from Step 3) into the apricot mixture (from Step 2). Stir in the sugar, oil and eggs. Set aside.

5. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold the flour into the apricot mixture (from Step 4) in 3 batches.

6. Stir in the almonds.

7. Spoon mixture into prepared tin, and bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. If the loaf browns too quickly, then protect the top with a sheet of foil. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out to a wire rack to cool completely.


Note: For younger kids, you can help them with peeling and chopping the orange rind.

Been drinking St. Dalfour's organic peppermint tea lately, and really love it!

*I am linking this to Cook-Your-Books #17 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

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