• ¼ c sugar
• ¼ c water
• 75 g butter
• 1 cup mixed dried fruit
• ¼ tsp almond essence
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ c flour
• ½ tsp baking powder

Place sugar, water, butter and fruit in saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove and leave to cool.

Stir in the egg, essence, and sifted dry ingredients. Mix until combined and place into 6 greased and lined muffin tins. Bake at 140 C for about 4o minutes or until golden and cooked through.

This week’s recipe is a good one for this time of year when there is not such a great selection of fresh fruit around. This is great with Rice pudding or porridge, muesli, ice cream or pancakes.

Dried Fruit Compote

• 500 g dried fruit such as apricots, pears, peaches, pineapple, figs and prunes
• ¼ caster sugar (or less to taste - you could also use honey)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 x strips of rind from a lemon
• 3 ½ c water

Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer covered for about 10 minutes until the fruit starts to soften. Remove the lid and cook gently for a further 20 minutes stirring occasionally until the fruit is tender. Cool and eat or store in the fridge.