Exercising Restraint

This morning, I made biscuits.

I only had one student this morning (bliss!), and I had a meeting in the afternoon which required me to bring something to share.  So once the student was done, at 9am, I baked.  This was so nice.  Made me wish for a normal job (you know, 9-5, Monday - Friday), so that I could actually have a weekend.  Excuse me while I have a giggle.

Now, this biscuit recipe I have used many times.  Many, many times.  And it's basic enough that it can withstand substitutions quite easily.  It's in the Donna Hay Off the Shelf book (Food Processor Biscuits).  Today I used more than the recommended 1 cup of chocolate chips (I had about 1 1/3 cups of dark chocolate melts which I broke into pieces), and I used dried apricots instead of raisins.  Partly because that's what was in the cupboard, and partly because comments on past baking has been the raisins are just mean - you think you're getting chocolate when in fact it's vaguely healthy instead.  At least when you bite into a piece of apricot there are no illusions.

The main thing for today, though, is that this recipe apparently makes 25 biscuits.  I always have more than that, as 2 tablespoons per biscuit is a lot of biscuit dough.  Now, I bake 10 biscuits per tray, so I'm always left with a certain amount of dough which will obviously not make a whole extra tray of biscuits.  I must admit, usually this ends with me just eating the remainder of the biscuit dough.  Enjoying it, yes, until I've finished it...  But today I thought, I'm going to bake a half-tray's worth of biscuits.  Which ended up being 8 biscuits anyway, so the total number was 38.  Totally feeling virtuous.

Apricot and Carrot Loaf

Seriously.  I couldn't quite believe it when I found this recipe.  I'd bought the wrong dried apricots, and had 2 bags of carrots in the fridge - hello, Apricot and Carrot Loaf.  I tried a tiny piece and it is really good.  Mostly healthy, but the brown sugar and butter keep it in the Treat Food category.  Thankfully I'm off to a meeting on Tuesday evening - with plenty of grateful stomachs.





Recipe (found at http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/11710/apricot+and+carrot+loaf
Ingredients:

    •    Melted butter, for greasing
    •    110g (2/3 cup) chopped dried apricots
    •    150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
    •    115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
    •    1 tsp mixed spice
    •    200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
    •    250g carrots, grated
    •    65g (1/2 cup) chopped walnuts
    •    125g butter, melted
    •    3 eggs, lightly whisked

Method
    1.    Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a 10.5 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted butter to grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.
    2.    Place the apricots in a medium heat-resistant bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 10 minutes. Drain well.
    3.    Sift together the flours and spice into a medium mixing bowl [I had to use my largest - the mix was huge!]. Stir in the apricots, brown sugar, carrots and walnuts. Add the butter and eggs and use a large metal spoon to combine.
    4.    Spoon into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Keeps in an airtight container for up to 4 days.