Fruit Gems Recipe

Recipe : Fruit Gems

Ingredients :

2 small granny smith apples, peeled, cored and coarsely grated (or 1 1/2 large apples)

75g dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup dark grape juice/or apple juice

1 lemon, grated rind and the juice

4 tbsp Splenda artificial sweetener powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/3 cups white plain flour

4 tbsp (50g) reduced fat margarine (eg. Becel Diet)

1/2 cup castor sugar

1 egg white, beaten

1 tbsp cold water

2 tsp castor sugar for sprinkling over gems

Method :

Lightly spray 18 small size muffin moulds with vegetable oil spray. Place the fruit, juice, sweetener and spices in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

Mix the flour and castor sugar together and rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg white and work in with your hands. Lastly, add the water which should be just enough to make the dough hold together.

Roll 2/3 of the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Repeat with the other 1/3 of the dough. Chill for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C. Roll the 2/3 of the pastry out onto a lightly floured board and using a 7.5cm round cutter, cut out 18 circles. Press gently into muffin moulds. (Pastry should cover bottom and sides of moulds.) Spoon the prepared fruit mixture into the pastry cups.

Roll out the remaining 1/3 of the pastry to 3mm thickness and using a smaller cutter, 5cm, cut out 18 'lids' for the gem cups. Lightly brush the edges of the cups with egg white and then press a lid on each, gently pressing together around the top to seal. Brush tops with egg white and sprinkle with castor sugar.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in trays for 10 minutes then remove.

Makes 18

Each Gem -

Fat - 1.2g

Kilojoules - 362

Calories - 86

Carbohydrates - 17.5g

Protein - 1.6g

Fibre - 1.2g

These fruity little pastries really are gems! Your friends won't believe they are low fat !

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