Here’s a bar recipe you probably haven’t tried before: Apricot Bars
This is an updated recipe from many years ago. The photographs I took for this recipe so many years ago were atrocious, so I chose to update it and share it again.
Thank you to Miranda from the CookieDoughAndOvenMitt.com blog for shooting beautiful photos of these Apricot Bars for me. I think Miranda certainly captured how delicious these bars truly are!
I first made this recipe in the middle of a week-long family reunion. I have 2 siblings and 11 cousins. Everyone has families, so our family reunions are quite large and loud! It’s the perfect sort of setting for recipe testing and tasting.
I surprised our crowd with these Apricot Bars, and they were a very big hit. Everyone thought they were delicious!
Apricot Bars
Recipe Details
Ingredients
SHORTBREAD CRUST
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup (1 Stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
APRICOT LAYER
- ⅔ cup dried apricot halves, chopped finely
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
SHORTBREAD CRUST
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with nonstick spray.
- Blend the flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add the butter gradually and process until coarse crumbs form. (If you do not have a food processor, you can do this by hand by cutting the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbs form).
- Press the crumbs onto the bottom of the prepared dish. Bake until the center is golden, about 25 minutes. Keep the oven heated.
APRICOT LAYER
- While the shortbread layer is baking, prepare the apricot layer. Place the apricots in a small saucepan, and add enough water to cover them. Boil until soft, about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into small bowl. In a separate, large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer. Add the brown sugar and vanilla, and beat until thickened. Stir in the flour mixture, then nuts and drained apricots.
- Gently spread over the baked shortbread layer. Bake the bars until they are puffed and dark brown. A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out with a few crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.
- Cut uniformly into desired size. Transfer to waxed paper or rack with paper towels underneath. Sift powdered sugar over bars.
Nutrition
Here are a few more bar recipes you might enjoy:
- Peach Crumb Bars by My Baking Addiction
- Peach and Raspberry Pie Bars by Recipe Girl
- Lemon Crumble Bars by House of Yumm
- Apple Pie Bars by Recipe Girl
I have never thought of this before! I love it though. Definitely saving to try sometime.