Favourites.

Believe it or not, have found one recipe for 'boil and bake' fruit cake that works well. Not the recipe that I was looking for, but one that is as good as. This version was included in one of my cook books and particularly 'useful' in that it is made with no eggs. As with American muffins, the two stages can be prepared up to a day in advance and put together just before baking.
Eggless Fruit Cake:
stage 1:
10 fl oz (300ml) cold tea
8 oz (225g) mixed dried fruit with peel
4 oz (100g) soft margarine
4 oz (100g) soft brown sugar
1 tblsp golden syrup
stage 2:
12 oz (350g) self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
method:
Put all the ingredients in stage 1 into a saucepan and heat gently together until the marg has melted and the sugar dissolved, then simmer for 5 minutes and leave to cool. For special occasions stir a tablespoon of rum or brandy into the above mixture after the cooking.
Sift together the ingredients for stage 2, then when ready to bake mix the two together until well combined - the mixture should be quite soft.
Put into a greased and lined 8" (20cm) cake tin and bake for 1 hour 45mins - covering the cake with a tent of foil (shiny side up to reflect away the heat) after the first half hour to prevent it browning too quickly. Cool for a few minutes in the tin before turning out onto a cake airer. When cold, wrap in greaseproof paper and then over wrap with foil. This cake freezes well.

In the same book re-discovered a very easy recipe to make sweets that might be useful to make for the festive season. A small bag of these could be packed into a Christmas Hamper maybe?
Coffee Creams: makes about 3 dozen
1 oz (25g) butter
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp milk
8 oz (225g) icing sugar
Put the butter into a small pan and heat gently until melted, then add the coffee and milk and stir until the coffee has dissolved. Remove from heat, cool, then stir in the icing sugar, a few spoons at a time, until well blended and formed a firm dough. Turn out onto a board and knead until smooth.
Roll out to 1/8th inch (3mm) thick and cut into small circles (I used the top of a film canister or pill bottles as a cutter). Knead the scraps and roll out and repeat to use all the dough.
Place the circles on a baking sheet or cake airer and leave at room temperature for several hours to firm up, then store in an airtight container in a cool place. Best eaten with three weeks of making.

Don't know why, but am always losing my favourite recipes, and fortunately am discovering them in the 'Goode' cook books, so am pleased to now be able to offer a recipe for doughnuts that uses no yeast.
American style Doughnuts: makes 12 - 16
8 oz (225g) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 oz (50g) granulated sugar
1 oz (25g) soft margarine
1 egg, beaten
4 fl oz (120ml) milk (approx)
sunflower oil for frying
caster sugar and cinnamon for coating
Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir in the sugar and rub in the marg. Mix in the egg with enough milk to make a firmish dough.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured board to a quarter inch (5mm) thickness. Cut into rings, removing the centres with a smaller cutter.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the doughnuts until golden, turning once or twice. Drain well on kitchen paper, then immediately toss in a mixture of caster sugar flavoured with a little cinnamon. Best eaten warm and freshly made.