Store Cupboard Standby

Following last week’s sort out of the Futility Room and the food store cupboard in there, I am trying to use things up. Like the Lidl Tartiflamme packet mix. Basically a cheeseless pizza type thing.

This was Very Successful – not sure why the picture is of a round product, when the English instructions encourage you to roll is out to a 30cm x 40cm rectangle, though.

Sadly the cheesecake packet mix from Makro, [sale - 75p] proved utterly inedible and bizarrely salty.

I admit it was two months past its Best Before date – but I’m too frugal to discard things that easily. Fortunately it was an ‘add water’ type, so at least I hadn’t wasted any milk or cream!

There was some dried fruit, and also brown sugar, left over from the Christmas baking, so last Saturday night, I decided a fruitcake was in order. However I was almost out of butter and marg, and only had one egg left. I didn’t want to go out and buy anything [and felt I should keep the egg, just in case Bob wanted an egg on toast for his Sunday Night Post Preaching Supper]

So I made this…

I had some Trex in the fridge [I think its USA equivalent is Crisco, but I’m not sure] and I had this very easy boil’n’bake recipe which used ingredients I had in store. I did not have quite enough brown sugar, so made up the quantity with regular white stuff.

Furthermore, everything is made in one saucepan and then put in the tin, so washing up is an absolute minimum too. 45 minutes from cupboard to cooling rack! I baked mine in my blue enamel roasting tin [which measures about 9” x 12”]

• 4tbsp shortening
• 2 cups hot water
• 2 cups dried fruit
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]

Preheat oven to 175ºC. Grease and line a 9”x13” pan

Mix fat, water, fruit and spices etc. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring.

Tip into saucepan

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 2 cups brown sugar

Mix well. Pour into prepared tin. Bake 35 minutes. Cool on rack

Delicious, and couldn’t be easier!

And Bob is always grateful to have a fruitcake in the house. [that is fruitcake in the sense of ‘baked goods’, not in the sense of ‘a whimsically eccentric woman’ – though he has her too]