Fresh Apricot Bars
Apricot bars are one of our favorite desserts to make when they’re sweet and in season. If you can find a good apricot jam, that works great too.
Fresh Apricot Bars
Lately it seems our cooking at home has been driven by an over abundance of ingredients. Creativity from Copiousness, if you will. Not that we are complaining. Quite the opposite really, we couldn’t be happier. The garden is going blitzkrieg with its tomato production but we’re hoping the rats don’t get to them before we do. Driving up to Palm Springs a couple weeks ago we spotted the Dowling Fruit Orchard stand on the fringes of one of their orchards. We both looked at each other, not even needing to say that on the way home we must stop there.
Lucky, on our way back we had just made it, 5 minutes before close! Flats of peaches for less than $10. Flats that tasted like home garden picked. Mounds of apricots. Watermelons. Oh the fruits in all their glory! We snatched up as much as we figured we would be able to eat in a few brief minutes, not wanting to delay the hard working staff in getting them home.
Amazing Fresh Apricots
We ate, sucking juices as we bit, nearly half the flat of peaches on the way home. Probably would have ate it all if it weren’t for the apricots in all their deliciousness.
Once back home, the boxes of recently purchased tastiness now had to compete with the garden’s bounty. With the apricots life short lived, we made these fresh apricot bars to enjoy them a little longer. Hope you love them as much as we did. The apricots were briefly cooked to help break them down, then pureed and spread over, and baked with a crisp type of crust with the oats, butter, and brown sugar. It is a great way to use up an abundance of apricots. If you happen to get some apricots which are bit of a let down in straight snacking ability, these apricot bars will give them a chance to regain glory.
-Diane & Todd
2019 Update: Since that trip we planted a Blenheim Royal apricot tree. We’re now indulging in home grown apricots that are sweet like candy. And using all the extras for our apricot bars!
This recipe was originally published in 2013 and re-published in 2019.
Fresh Apricot Bar Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (910g) ripe Apricots , cut in half & seeds removed
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar , or to taste
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier), optional
- 1 cup (125g) flour
- 1/2 cup (110g) packed brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 cup (113g) cold unsalted butter (1 stick) , cut into small cubes
- 1 cup (90g) old fashioned oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 2 quart baking dish or 10" tart pan.
- Combine the apricots and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the apricots are soft (will vary tremendously depending on the ripeness of the apricots-very ripe apricots will only take minute or two - very firm apricots may take up to 10 minutes or more). Stir in the orange liqueur.
- Puree the apricots in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into a bowl and set in freezer to chill while you make the crust.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pinch in the butter pieces into the flour mixture (or cut them into the flour with a pastry cutter), until it resembles coarse sand. Pinch in the oats until well combined.
- Press 2/3rds of the crust mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish (if using a tart pan, press the crust mixture up the sides too). Spread the apricot puree over the crust bottom. Sprinkle the remaining crust over the top of the apricot puree.
- Bake for 50-65 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.Allow to cool, then slice and serve. Store in the refrigerator.
Tried these over the weekend and they were great! Thanks for a yummy recipe!
It’s so hard to find good apricot recipes. I’m so glad to see yours! This turned out so good!
Absolutely delicious! I didn’t have orange liquer so I used vanilla essence and a bit of orange rind and juice. Thanks for this.
Thanks Zoe for sharing! Love the orange rind.
Can I freeze this?
Hi Marge,
We’ve never tried freezing them. If you do, let us know how it works out. Thanks!
Last year I canned several bottles of apricot butter, they stayed runny. I just made this recipe and used my messed up apricot butter, it was delish! Thank you for the great recipe!!!
So glad it worked well for you! Even a “messed up” apricot butter it delicious!
I love this recipe, used blueberries and a little lemon and some zest. Fantastic!
I just made these and they haven’t cooled yet, and I just typed them with ice cream. Delicious recipe and so easy! Thank you
I happen to LOVE fresh apricots (not a snacking let down at all, here!), and often want to bake with them. I always end up using apricot jam instead because I just can’t help myself and eat them all. Apricots JUST made a comeback into our local grocery store the last couple of weeks, so I snatched up a lot of them. The grocery bagger helped me load my goodies into the back of my car while I wrangled the 18 month old into her carseat, and when I got home, they were all smushed and practically jam already. This recipe saved the day!! They are in the oven now, smelling AMAZING. I can’t wait for my family to eat them for breakfast tomorrow (and I will eat one or two tonight for dessert! :P)
This is hands down the most amazing combination of crust and apricot i’ve ever tasted. There were so many overripe, mushy and not excellently sweet apricots in the house that i had more than the two pounds needed for the recipe. absolutely no problem though. Put it all on the crust, which was one of the best crusts i’ve ever tasted, and it was the perfect amount! didn’t even last a day. Thankyou for apricot heaven.
hey guys! i haven’t used my puree yet as it’s chilling but Im wondering what the thickness level should be. Mine seems a bit pourable. Is there a volume amount of the filling that you recommend that is ideal to spread on the bars, for ex, 1 c, 2 c? Thanks in advance : )
I’d say it would be about 2 1/2 cup of puree. The thickness you describe sounds about right. Good luck!
Thanks! Haha since I originally wrote that I’ve already made two (smaller) batches of these. I decided to add a few spoonfuls of homemade wild raspberry jam to the apricot puree. This fixed my concern with the thickness and also tasted amazing. So good! Thanks : )
I just got a bunch of fresh apricots at the farmers market yesterday! I’d love to make this. Any substitutions for orange liqueur? I love the idea to use it in the recipe, but we’re unfortunately out at the moment, and that’s the only ingredient I’m lacking. Otherwise, I’d get to making them right this second!
You could use vanilla extract or even just omit it. Brandy or a dark rum would be nice too.
I only have the quick cooking kind of oats. Will that make that much of a difference?
They might work but we haven’t tried the recipe with them. If you give it a shot we’d love to hear how it comes out.
Just to say that I used porridge oats, as we call them in England, rather than the coarser, jumbo oats (as we call them!), and it turned out perfectly. In fact, I think porridge oats holds together, in the crumble mix, a bit better.
Thanks for giving the UK terminology. We love changing up with the different oat cuts and feel you can’t go wrong with any of them. Glad to hear the porridge oats worked great!
Yumm! looks fantastic!
I made these the other day, but modified them a bit (sorry, I can’t help myself!). I used an assortment of stone fruit and included coconut and almond meal in the crumble mix. They made an excellent brunch. I’ve blogged about them and linked back to you. Thanks for the recipe!
now i just have to find a surplus of apricots somewhere. Hmmm off on the hunt i go.
These apricot bars look delicious and healthy. will try these soon Thanks