Apricot Rolls

I must admit that my nut roll tins have been in the back of the baking cupboard for quite a while. I enjoyed baking the Date Roll recently, so baked Apricot Rolls over the weekend. Rolls are always moist and they slice up well. Spread with some butter, they are delicious in a lunch box or picnic basket.

When I made the date rolls, I had a number of emails and enquiries about the tins. My tins are Willow brand and I bought them many years ago. However you should be able to find nut roll tins at good baking stores or search for Nut Roll Tins online. I spotted some on the Wheel and Barrow website.

When making Nut Rolls it is best to fill the tins only about halfway. Cook them standing upright with the lid on each end. Once they are cooked, gently remove the lid at the top to test. It f it is cooked, pop the lid back on and leave the cake to rest for approximately 10 minutes. They will then be easier to remove from the tins and you can leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Apricot rolls are so delicious . The dried apricots are firstly chopped and then soaked in hot water so that they plump up.

Apricot Rolls

(To make 2)

Ingredients:
2/3 cup chopped dried apricots
125 g (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup castor (superfine) sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup milk

Cover apricots with hot water, stand 30 minutes. Drain well.

Grease 2 nut roll tines. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in half the sifted flours with half the milk. Then stir in remaining flours and milk. Stir in apricots. Spoon mixture evenly into tow prepared tins. Bake in moderate oven (175 deg C, 350 deg F)for approximately 1 hour. Stand rolls with lids on for 10 minutes. Remove lids and turn onto wire rack to cool.

Serve sliced with butter.

If you enjoyed this recipe, check out our Date Roll, Apple Cake and Lemon Yoghurt Cake.

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Don't forget to look out for July's XO Gigi Giveaway on July 7!

Japanese Tenugui

You may recall that we have been working on giving our family room a bit of an update by introducing more white and aqua to freshen up the room. You can see our before post here and our update here. The last item on our list was to find some vintage travel posters to hang on the walls. Unfortunately the prints I ordered online were of poor quality so our walls have remained unfinished.

When we went on a family holiday to Japan earlier in the year, we purchased some Japanese Tenugui to frame. Tenugui are are thin cotton hand towel that are often printed in a range of designs and patterns are are typically used as a hand towel, head band, or souvenir.

We found a few prints that we loved  in a lovely store in Kyoto in the Teramachi Shopping Arcade and I finally got around to having them framed this week.

We are really pleased with how the framed Tenugui look - they are a great reminder of our wonderful family holidays to Japan and the blues and whites in the designs freshen up our walls. 

I have also made a table runner and mat for the coffee table and lamp tables. You might be able to spot my latest quilt draped over the sofa. I will share that in another post.

We are really pleased with how our room looks now. 

The teens also have some Tenugui in their rooms from an earlier trip to Japan. Ikea used to sell a ribba frame that was sized perfectly for Tenugui. As you can see Tenugui are available in a range of colours and designs. (Unfortunately it is dark and overcast today so the photos aren't the best).

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