Day two - cookies and cake!

Well, to keep us going I tried a couple of recipes on day two and I have to say they have both vanished pretty quickly now! So quickly that I'm afraid there are no photos but I'll try and remember next time...

Firstly some cookies, the original recipe was courtesy of this excellent blog but I have adapted it slightly. These tasted great! Slightly less sweet then perhaps we're used to but the jam and the fruit does make it quite sweet enough. I took the cookies round a friends house and no-one even realised they hadn't any sugar in! I also made another version with ground ginger, sultanas and spelt flour and these were good too.

Walnut and Sultana Cookies

Ingredients

• 100 g butter
• 3 tbsp sugar free jam (I used St Dalfour apricot jam)
• 1 beaten egg
• 50 g ground almonds
• 50 g sultanas
• 30g chopped walnuts
• 100 g wholemeal flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice

Recipe
1. Cream butter and jam together.
2. Add the egg and beat well.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to make a sticky dough.
4. Spoon dollups of the mixture onto a baking sheet (I made twelve cookies) and flatten slightly with a fork.
5. Bake at gas mark 4 (180 deg C/ 350 deg F) for 15-20 mins til golden.


And I wanted something to take on a picnic to share. So I found this recipe for a fruit cake (from Rose Elliot's "New Complete Vegetarian" cookbook). This was really good too and surprisingly sweet, I don't think anyone would realise that it has no sugar in. I think it would make an excellent Christmas cake, perhaps with some pretty dried fruit put on the top before you cook it. The cake went down really well at the picnic and a couple of people asked for the recipe so it must have been good! The cake is also vegan.


Fruit Cake

Ingredients

• 225 g dates
• 275 ml water
• 450 g mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas and apricots)
• 175 g plain wholemeal flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• grated rind of one orange or lemon (I hadn't any so just used a dash of lemon juice!)
• 40 g ground almonds
• 4 tbsp orange juice (again, I hadn't any so used apple juice)
• a few flaked almonds

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to gas 3 (160 deg C / 325 deg F). Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Chop dates and add to saucepan with the water. Cook over a low heat til soft. Then remove from heat and mash to break up.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients (except for the flaked almonds) and mix well. Spoon into the tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top.
4. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool slightly in tin and then turn out onto cooling rack.