Fruitcake Granola Food

FRUITCAKE GRANOLA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 300°F. In large bowl, mix oats, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; set aside.
• In 1-quart saucepan, heat oil, honey and granulated sugar to simmering, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in rum. Pour hot liquid over oat mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Spread in ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan.
• Bake 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 30 minutes.
• Stir granola to break apart. Stir in fruit bits, pineapple, orange peel and lemon peel. Store tightly covered.

FRUITCAKE PARFAITS

Steps:

• Make the fruitcake granola: Preheat the oven to 275. Crumble the cake into pea-size pieces with your hands. Chop up any large chunks of fruit or nuts. Scatter the pieces on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and dry, 35 to 55 minutes, depending on the kind of fruitcake. Cool completely. (Leftover granola will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.)
• Make the parfaits: Warm the blueberries in a small saucepan over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Strain, reserving the berries and juice separately. Return the juice to the pan and boil until reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Cool completely.
• Divide the blueberry sauce among 4 tall parfait glasses. Add 1 cup yogurt to each and gently swirl. Top the parfaits with the fruitcake granola and blueberries.

ULTIMATE FRUITY GRANOLA

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, sunflower kernels and flax. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, salt and cinnamon. Cook and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until brown sugar is dissolved and mixture is heated through. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Pour over oat mixture and toss to coat., Transfer to a 15x10x1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 8 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Stir in dried fruits. Store in an airtight container.

GRANDMA'S BOILED FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Day one.
• Mix the first 11 ingredients into a large heavy based pot, place over a medium heat. Stir and bring to the boil (don't leave it alone in case it burns at the base).
• Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, you can leave it alone for this part.
• Turn the heat off and add the orange juice, stir until well combined and leave overnight to soak. Place a lid over the top to stop moisture evaporating through the night.
• Day 2.
• In the cold pot with the pre-soaked fruit mixture add the remaining ingredients and stir well, be warned - you will need some serious elbow grease as the mixture will be very thick!
• In either 2 large and deep loaf tins or a deep 20x20cm grease and line the sides and base 4 times with brown paper (I use brown paper bags that I have sliced open). Have the paper create a rim that goes up and above the tin. For a square tin you will need around 8 paper bags.
• Place the cake mix into the prepared tin/s. Bang the cake tin on the floor about 10 times to get all the air bubbles out.
• Using a wet hand, smooth the cake to make it flat. At this stage you can choose to decorate the top with blanched almonds or not.
• Place into a cold oven, turn the oven up to 250 degrees F/150 degrees C for 3 1/2 - 4 hours for 1 large cake or 2 1/2 - 3 hours for 2 loaves. Rotate the cakes at least once during cooking - even it you have a fan forced oven. Cake is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.
• Cool in the tin, cake is best eaten the day after baking.
• Store in an airtight container for upto 5-7 days depending on your humidity.