Golden Apricot Bars

My mother-in-law brought me some wonderful gifts last week, this cookbook being one of them. She must have bought it on a trip to visit my father-in-law's family in Baton Rouge. Published in 1959, many of the recipes call for things that probably no longer exist. Still, I wanted to make something from it. Hand-written in the inside cover is a recipe for Grandmother Annie Lizzie's Chicken and Dumplings with Bama (Ala?) jelly that doesn't actually contain any chicken save for the cooking broth. Seeing as it calls for both butter and lard, I don't expect to be making it any time soon, but it is wonderful to have it as a family memento.

I had to laugh, it was difficult to find a cookie/cake recipe that wasn't swimming in booze. Not that I have a problem with baked goods swimming in booze, but I'd just baked three large fruitcakes this week and I wanted to make something Danny could eat for dessert tonight. Since my little boy is an apricot fiend (no exaggeration-the kid is wild for the stuff) the recipe for Apricot bars sounded like an obvious choice.Besides, the recipe is attributed to a Mrs. Edwin Chubbuck, which has to be one of the best surnames...ever. I substituted flaked coconut for the nuts in the topping, which gave it a weirdly familiar smell from childhood not unlike Play-Doh and Manila paper. Yeah, I know-I can't explain it either, sometimes baked coconut does that, particularly in granola.

So anyway, I made the apricot bars. They were simple enough to do, but time consuming as each step had to be done in order. In the end, what I ended up with was a rich shortbread base topped with a very moist, sugary fruit. Not the best bar cookie I've ever made, and not the worst. Still, it was great to be able to bake something from a cookbook that was cherished all these years and then gifted to me. There's a recipe for a grilled steak that is coated in granulated sugar before grilling which is intriguing. I read the recipe to Mr. Eat The Blog and he was ready to go out and purchase charcoal and a steak at 10 PM-so I suspect that will be making an appearance at the blog soon.

The other wonderful thing my mother-in-law brought were shallots from her garden. Now, bringing a dozen shallots in your luggage from Washington State could be a gift with potential stinkiness-so she placed each bulb in a half-pint jar and packed them in her checked baggage! As a bonus, I get my canning jars returned from jams I've sent them, ready to be refilled. People who return canning jars always earn extra points in my book, but I didn't really expect them to be lugged halfway across the country in a suitcase. How awesome is my mother-in-law?

We are also still enjoying a fridge full of exotic cheeses, fig preserves, organic sauerkraut (um...that's my husband's) and turkey liverwurst. Danny has new clothes from both his grandparents and auntie ("the yellow-haired auntie from New York") and we can't thank them all enough.

You Will Need:

2/3 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup soft butter
1/4 cup sugar or confectioner's sugar (I used granulated)
1 1/3 cups sifted flour (1/3 cup held aside)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or brandy flavouring (I used vanilla)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I substituted flaked coconut)

Rinse apricots, cover with water and boil for ten minutes. Drain, cool and chop finely.

Mix soft butter with sugar and 1 cup of the flour. Press into a greased 8 inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes.

Sift remaining flour with baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs well and then slowly beat the brown sugar in mixing well after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture and the fruit and nuts (or coconut). Spread over baked layer. Return to oven and bake 30 minutes more. Cool completely in pan. Cut into squares.