day 10 ~ apricot nut bars w/ chocolate chips...


My husband is a HUGE fan of any type of fruit jam. He loves it when I make a new batch each summer. Peach and Apricot are his favorites with Triple Berry Jam sliding into third. So any time I can bake with them he is one happy fellow. 

These bars have pistachios which are one of my favorite nuts. There are also chocolate chips. You can never go wrong with chocolate chips. The bottom crust is chewy with a sweet and crunchy topping. 

Jerry smiled for a week when I made these. Store them in an air tight container and they last 3-5 days.


If your looking for more baking inspiration head over to my Recipe Catalog. I have moved the holiday treats to the top of the page. 

Let's bake shall we! 
Mary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Apricot Nut Bars w/ Chocolate Chips
recipe fro Fine Cooking Magazine

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 lb (1 cup) chopped, shelled pistachio nuts
1/2 cup diced dried apricots
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate or white chocolate morsels
1 (15 1/4 oz) jar apricot preserves

Directions:
Postion a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.  In a mixer, beat the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt at low speed until well combined.  Add the butter and mix on medium until the butter is mostly blended and the batter begins to pull together, about 3 mintues.  Stir in the pistachios.  Scoop out 1 1/2 cups of the mixture, stir the dried apricots and chocolate morsels into it, and refrigerate.  Firmly press the remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan.

Bake for 25 minutes.  Let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes.  Spread the apricot preserves evenly on top, leaving 1/8-inch border around the edge of the crust.  Crumble the reserved crumb mixture over the top.  Continue baking until lightly browned and the fruit filling is bubbling, about 35 to 40 minutes.  Let cool completely until slicing into 18 bars.  

Labels: