FRUIT SLICE FOR FOOD FRIDAY

“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” - Richard M. Sherman

I was at a conference again today and it was good to see that there was a wide variety of food available for lunch, including some healthful options. There were some vegetarian choices and some fresh salads, sandwiches that were vegetable based and also those with fish instead of meat fillings. As well as that, for those with a sweet tooth there some delicious cakes and slices, including a very nice dried fruit slice that was very nice. Seeing I have several sweet teeth, I was delighted to sample this slice and then had a second piece as I only had some salad for lunch.

A little inspection of the web this afternoon yielded the recipe of this delicious slice (or if not the exact one a very good imitation!). Here it is:

Dried Fruit Slice
Ingredients

280 g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
100 g brown sugar
200 g unsalted butter, chopped up
2 tbsps lemon juice
350 g chopped dried fruits (mixed peel, glacé cherries, dried apricots, sultanas, raisins, dates, etc)
180 mL orange juice

Method
Preheat the oven to 180˚C, and line a lightly greased 20 x 30 cm shallow tin with non-stick baking paper, overhanging the opposite sides.
Put the flour, spices, sugar and butter in a food processor, processing using the pulse action until fine and crumbly.
Add the lemon juice and process briefly until mixture is well moistened.
Set aside a cup of this pastry mixture (in the fridge) and press the rest firmly into the tin with the back of a spoon.
Smooth the surface of the pastry base and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool completely.
Put the chopped dried fruit and orange juice in a pan heat and stir for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid is evaporated and the fruit is soft (careful it doesn’t burn!). Leave to cool.
Spread over the pastry evenly to form a layer of fruit.
Crumble the reserved pastry mixture on top of the fruit and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.
Allow to cool and cut into slices.
You may serve with some optional double cream or mascarpone.