Luscious Apricot Bars

We love the Apricot King, and buy his dried apricots, apricot pepper jelly (yum!)  apricot jam, and especially his apricot syrup which is scrumptious on pancakes and waffles.  Apricot King

Of course dried apricots are tasty for munching, but I'm always on the lookout for recipes that call for dried apricots.  Below is one of the best.  This recipe was requested in either Gourmet or Bon Appetit.  Don't use a non-stick pan, because the bottom crust may overbrown in it, and besides, you don't want to scratch th pan when you're cutting the bars.  The recipe says "Makes 12 bars" but I am finding nowadays that folks prefer small helpings of treats, so I cut 16 bars and halve a few of those for dainty appetites.

The recipe came originally from the Putah Creek Cafe  

Apricot Bars 12 - 20 bars depending on size

2/3 cup California dried apricots
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
confectioners (powdered) sugar for dusting.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Simmer apricots in water to cover in a small saucepan, covered, 15 minutes.  Drain, them cool to room temperature and finely chop.
Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and 1 cup of the flour with an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 
Press evenly over the bottom of a greased 8 inch square pan (not nonstick) and bake in the middle of oven until golden, about 25 minutes.
While crust is baking:
Beat together, in same bowl, chopped apricots, brown sugar, eggs, walnuts, baking powder, vanilla, salt and remaining 1/3 cup flour  on medium speed until combined well. 
Pour topping over cooked hot crust, and bake in middle of oven until topping is set and golden, 25 - 30 minutes more.
Cool in pan on  rack and cut into 12 - 18 bars, then dust with confectioners sugar. 
Bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature 2 days.  They are better the second day after baking.  

Nice to dirty only one saucepan and one bowl, yes?  These are winners.  Not overly sweet, but sweet enough.  Nuts can be omitted if nut allergies are present.

Thursday for my Toastmasters Holiday Party, I'm making the Apricot Bars, from Coffee-Spice Shortbread with Crystallized Ginger, tea sandwiches (rolled) and a spinach quiche.  We have a truly international group, and I hope there will be something to appeal to everyone. I promise to photograph the apricot bars, because we know a pictures is always at least 1000 words. 

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"Lite" chicken pot pie

What toothsome fare is that? Ye gods, it's a Gourmet Magazine "on the light side" Chicken Pot Pie. Those are mashed potatoes for topping, by the way, potatoes mashed with 2% Greek yogurt, water, and chives. The pie itself has chicken breast, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, peas, spices and broth. I went the long route and made my own chicken broth from the water I cooked the chicken in. I added a few green beans from the garden. Some wine in the sauce and a tablespoon of sherry made for some very good "light' sauce.

The only problem was that the recipe called for 19 (nineteen, count 'em) ingredients and the green beans made twenty. I made the potatoes from scratch (we frequently used the boxed around our house) and altogther this was fairly high on the labor side, but we ate for two nights and it did not seem like diet fare

Chives from the garden in the potatoes. The dish was colorful and had plenty of eye appeal. I cooked up the rest of the cranberries from 2008 today and also served a side dish of fresh broccoli. Can't ever get enough of those healthful veggies, don't cha know?

Tonight, at seventh inning stretch, we'll break out the apricot bars I made for my Toastmasters meeting today. Pretty good, with apricots from the 'cot king, grown in the flavor zone in California's central valley. http://www.apricotking/. The apricot syrup is incredible on pancakes and waffles. Don't apricots have vitamin A? Ya gotta keep eating them.

Tomorrow, we're back to salad, with a main dish of tuna, artichoke hearts, red onion and white beans. What's not to like?

Then more soup.

That's all.

The New Year Lurches In Like A Zombie

Recovering from houseguests. Laundry. Leftovers. Lethargy. The 3 L's? After the laundry comes the ironing of napkins and pillowcases. Sheets can tend to themselves.

What is better than a meat pie? I had LOTS of leftover pork tenderloin. Cut it into bite-sized cubes, browned in butter with some scallions and garlic, sprinkled with flour and roast-beef seasoning (go figure) and added some stock mixed with a bit of white wine. Tossed in lots of chopped parsley and a couple big spoonsful of sour cream. Stir like crazy. Tossed in a bit of leftover rice since I had no potatoes, and a few cooked baby carrots and some frozen peas. Put a Pillsbury ready-made pie crust on top and cooked in a hot oven until the crust was brown.

We ate it last night and tonight. Yum!

Today was the day to exchange some presents at Macy's. I have to tell you that if everyone in the city and suburbs of Boston bought a bra and some panties at Macy's in South Shore Plaza, there would still be plenty for the people in Providence. Sheeesh! Never have I seen so much underwear, so many pj's. People, there are also a lot of really ugly clothes out there. Kohl's had some in the kids dept. and Macy's had some in the women's dept. Ugly. Ugly. Probably everyone could buy something ugly and the store would still have . . . well, you know.

We had a frugal lunch at Au Bon Pain. I noticed with sorrow that the tarragon chicken sandwich was not on the menu, nor was the Florentine tomato soup. Alas, alas. S.O. had broccoli cheddar soup and I scarfed down a spicy tuna sandwich. Lunch for two for $13.00 with lemonade is not bad. Some places a glass of wine would cost that much.

Hit the Body Shop for soap and foot cream and other sundries. The Body Shop rocks.

On the Scottish Highland Cattle front, the young black bull is gone, which must mean the freaked out pregnant cow is in residence. I fed them yesterday--three bags of fruit and veggie scraps. The grapefruit rinds from 4 people filled a whole bag.

I made apricot bars today. Hope they aren't overly sweet like the last batch. Current recipes can way overdo the sugar.

Promiscuous Mode received another rejection today. I am back in my drug lord's head, which is not a bad place to be as he daydreams of Cali and Cartagena.

Onward,



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