Baking

Baking

Dear Daughter #1 is now safely ensconced (as far as we know) at her summer thing for 3 weeks. The Weasel is home again (zap! I didn't mention I'd even be gone!). Saratoga Springs is staggeringly beautiful - even the kid was saying, OMG! Look at that! She's not known for her sensitivity to nineteenth century architecture, so I consider this a big deal.



In the air conditioning at the hotel in Albany was the only knitting of the last couple of days. Today, it's around a hundred degrees, so I've decided to finally do the baking! Yes! This would be the most deranged possible choice, so it was (QED) what I got up to this afternoon. The cherry-pineapple-brown sugar loaf is in the oven as I type.

I futzed with the recipe, to adapt a bit and convert the "self-rising flour" part - thanks, Janey! - and also I'm using fresh cherries rather than the horrible candied ones (not that I'm biased or anything) The recipe, as pledged:

(Note: You will need a kitchen scale for this.)
PINEAPPLE, COCONUT AND CHERRY LOAF

Mixed dried fruit (I used dried cherries and dried pears, chopped) - 225 grams
Turbinado sugar (this is a granular light brown sugar) - 110 g
Butter - 75 g
Flour (The Regular Kind, dammit) - 175 g
1 1/2 teaspoons baking POWDER (YMMV - if your powder is a little old, maybe a bit more)
Salt - a big pinch
2 eggs, beaten
Canned pineapple chunks - small can (7 1/2 oz. can in original, we have 8 oz. cans here - go for the extra half ounce and damn the torpedos)
Fresh cherries, pitted and halved - 50 g (this is about 8 cherries) (and yes, I have a cherry pitter and love it)
Dried shredded coconut - 50 g

Put the mixed dried fruit into a large bowl and cover with boiling water; let soak for about 15 minutes (set the timer, you'll forget otherwise). Put sugar and butter in a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Drain the dried fruit and stir it in, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer to mixing bowl and let cool completely (this will take rather a while).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. "Line a 900g (2 lb) loaf tin." (I had no idea what to make of this size and went with one of my grandma's loaf tins - it's about 9 x 5 x 3 - and sprayed it with Pam.)

Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Stir into the fruit/butter/sugar mixture. Add the eggs, pineapple, cherries, and coconut and mix thoroughly. "Transfer to the prepared tin and level the surface." (No translation needed and rather charmingly put, I thought)

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, it's done.

Cool and eat!