Stone Fruit And Nut Tray Bake Food

ROASTED STONE FRUIT

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
• Halve the oranges and squeeze all the juice into a large roasting dish with the balsamic. Halve the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds, then add both pod and seeds to the dish.
• Grate in the strawberries, mix together, and pop into the oven to warm through while you prep your crumble and fruit.
• For the crumble, tear the stones out of the dates and place the flesh in a food processor with the oats, coconut flakes, 1 tablespoon of oil and 130ml of water, then blitz into a crumble.
• Pour into a roasting tray or dish (30cm x 40cm) and spread out into an even layer. Wash all the fruit, then halve or quarter, removing the stones as you go.
• Pull the dish of warm, delicious juices out of the oven and gently stir in all the fruit. Return to the top shelf of the oven, place the crumble on the shelf underneath, and cook for 45 minutes, or until the fruit is soft and sticky and the crumble is nicely golden.
• Stir the crumble occasionally as it cooks to break it up and give it a nice even colour.
• Serve up however many portions you want while it's all warm, adding 1 tablespoon of yoghurt to each one.
• Once cool, decant the rest of the crumble portions into an airtight jar to enjoy in the days that follow, and pop the fruit into the fridge, where it will keep happily for up to 5 days.

PACKED LUNCH RECIPES ~ FRUIT AND NUT TRAYBAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 190/fan170/375/gas 5
• Grease and line a shallow, baking tray about 30x20cm and an inch or two deep
• Using an electric whisk, whip the sugar & eggs together until foamy
• Add the oil/butter & water and whisk until well combined
• Fold in the flour, fruit & nuts until all signs of the dry ingredients have disappeared
• Pour into the lined tin and spread out even
• Bake for around 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
• Let coll in the tin to retain its shape, when cool spread melted chocolate over the top if you fancy, cut into slices and store in an air tight tub. I make these on a Sunday for the weeks lunchboxes, and they are still fresh enough to enjoy by Friday.

BAKED STONE FRUITS

Steps:

• Butter a baking dish and lay in the fruit halves, skin-side down. Dot with the butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Add 2 tablespoons water to the bottom of the dish. Cover with foil and bake until the fruit is soft, about 10 minutes. Uncover and finish baking for 10 minutes, until the fruit is slumping. Serve with almonds sprinkled on top.

HEALTHY FRUIT CAKE TRAYBAKE WITH NUTS

Steps:

• Combine the sultanas, cranberries and prunes with the brandy and orange juice, stir and soak for 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375F /190 C/ gas mark 5. Grease a 23 cm square baking pan and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and salt and stir using a whisk. Set aside.
• In another bowl beat together the eggs, sugar and oil for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Add the nuts, fruit mixture and orange zest and stir. Add the flour mixture and stir just to combine (do not overstir).
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smooth out the top and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Lift the cake out with the paper and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Make the icing by combining the icing (powdered) sugar with 1 tablespoon of either orange or lemon juice and stirring until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the cake, scatter some lemon/orange zest and serve!

FRUITY TRAYBAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 22cm square tin with baking parchment. Whisk the oil and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the banana. Stir through the apples, carrots, mango and lemon zest. Combine the flour, bicarb and mixed spice in another bowl, then fold into the fruit mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 mins, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack.
• To make the icing, beat together the icing sugar, passion fruit or lemon curd and the cream cheese. Spread over the top of the cake and cut into square pieces to serve.

ROASTED STONE FRUITS WITH VANILLA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 8. Tip the sugar, vanilla pod, cardamom, lime zest and juice into a food processor, then blitz until blended, or mash together using a pestle and mortar. Tip the fruit into a shallow baking dish, then toss in the sludgy sugar.
• Roast for 20 mins until the fruits have softened, but not collapsed and the sugar and fruit juices have made a sticky sauce. Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.