Putting Dried Fruits to Use

A few days ago, I got loads of dried fruits as a gift and I wanted to put them to use in the best possible way. I found some fantastic ideas and recipes for them.

All of hem could act as wonderful additions to anything from salads and breads to fruit pies, muffins, cookies or pancakes. This Super Berry Shortbread looks promising too.

Dried cranberries

1. I made Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies the first time I tried dried cranberries and liked them a lot.
2. This Cranberry Shortbread looks so nice and buttery and crumbly! Just the way a shortbread should be.

Dried cherries
Knowing how power packed with anti-oxidants cherries are, I’d love to use a lot of these in my baking.

1. Emeril’s Dried Cherry and Chocolate Biscotti: I have never really had a cherry-chocolate combination, so I’m excited to try this one out.
2. This wonderful looking Cherry Cake at Allrecipes, looks so inviting.
3. Oatmeal and Cherry Cookies at Nook and Corner look positively delicious.

Prunes/Dried plum
You can use prunes in everything – from Moroccan tagines to Mexican mole. Interestingly, it’s only in the United States that sellers call them “dried plums.” The rest of the world is quite happy to gobble up California prunes. They are particularly suitable in winter dishes such as stews, braised meats, warm tarts or spreads. Here is a round-up of a Prune blogging event that can give you countless ideas.

Dried apricots
This recipe for Sweet Potato Pie doesn’t call for apricots, but a handful would give it the that extra bit of sweetness in certain bites and a nice texture too!

Dried blueberries
I can think of folding these into a cupcake batter and also adding to it a tiny spoonful of blueberry preserve so as to heighten the fruity flavour. Here is a recipe of positively rated recipe for Blueberry Nut Muffins.

And of course you can swap combinations to that you might have available at hand or have an inclination for.

Tagged as: dried fruit, recipes