Apricot Slices Recipe

I have recently been trying to clear out my cupboards and have come to the conclusion I am a bit of a hoarder. I seem to have half packets of ingredients I bought in order to make one recipe and never got round to using the rest of. I need to make some space so rather than buying new ingredients I have been searching for uses for what I already have. This week I found a half empty packet of dried apricots lurking at the back of the cupboard. I think I bought them to decorate a ginger and pineapple cake and they have been lurking unused every since.

I came up with an idea for Apricot Slices, which is a variant on caramel slices. They have a biscuit base and the top is a mix of apricots and other things. This makes for a rather nice fruity type biscuit flapjack. I was very pleased with them and they were actually quite simple to make.

Apricot Slices Recipe

Ingredients

Biscuit Base

• 120g (4 oz) butter
• 60g (2 oz) caster sugar
• 120g (4 oz) plain flour

Apricot Topping

• 150g (5 oz) dried apricots
• 175g (6 oz) light soft brown sugar
• 50g (2 oz) plain flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 50g (2 oz) flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4.
2. Line a 20.cm (8 inch) square baking tin with baking parchment or grease it well.
3. Make the biscuit base, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add the flour and rub together until it forms a dough. Press into the bottom of the tin.
5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. While it is baking make the apricot topping. Put the dried apricots into a pan and just cover with water. Heat for 15 minutes until they soften. Drain the water and chop the apricots into small pieces if they were not pre-chopped
7. Mix the apricots with the rest of the ingredients and place over the cooked biscuit base.
8. Put back in the oven for another 25 minutes until the topping is firm.
9. Leave to cool in the tin, then chop into squares.

Read more:

• Maple Syrup Cake
• Gingerbread Loaf Recipe