simple bakes for crazy lives ... fat free apricot tea loaf

mmmm i must start with an apology ... again !! 2 months have practically gone by and i have given you one whole blog !! Wowza !! anyway ... life is fairly hectic ... and i have done loads of cooking and i've got photos for blogs coming out my ears ... but actually sitting down here to blog seems fairly rare ... 

This one is a hugely simple and easy to do recipe (I can remember the recipe in my head and am blogging from my desk at work its that easy). You just need to be in to have the oven time and soaking time, but the actual method is easy !! 

One absolutely gorgeous moist tea loaf ... making it your own as well is so simple, you can used spiced tea's or different fruit. Generally i use raisins or mixed ... my mum tried it not so long ago with a chai tea ...

See mums recipe 

but this is a long standing family recipe ... fat free but lets be honest with the amount of sugar thats in this bad boy we can't really claim it's a healthy bake !! lol The diet goes out the window again !!

heres what you do ...

use a mug to measure all your ingredients ...
preheat the oven to gas 4//180 degrees

Firstly take a mug of fruit (raisins, mixed dried fruit, apricots, dried cherries)
pour it into a mixing bowl
Then measure a mug full of sugar and stick it in the same bowl
(I actually found it a little sweet last time so next time i would use maybe 3/4 of a mug of sugar)
Then make black tea in the same mug (do not use milk), boil it up then let it brew for a few minutes and add to the bowl
leave to soak for at least 30 mins
rinse and leave the mug to dry at this point

pop off and do a bit of shopping or some ironing ... then ...

add to the bowl (using the same dry mug) 2 mugs full of self raising flour
and 1 egg ...
Mix ...

Stick into a greased loaf tin ... and bake for about an hour ... it really will depend on what you've put in there, so keep your eye on it and check with a skewer to check it is cooked through.
If not ... leave it in for a few more minutes ... it's so moist it won't dry out unless you bake it for ages ... so don't be worried about leaving it for a few more minutes ...

et voila ... one squishy fruity tea loaf ... ready for your family to scoff (Oh and did i mention - it's fat free !! LOL)