Apricot Bars with Shortbread Crust

These luscious apricot nut bars combine sweet apricots, crunchy walnuts and buttery shortbread in a delicate dessert bar. This will be sure to be a favorite for the apricot lovers out there!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword apricot, shortbread, walnuts

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Cooling time 1

Total Time 1 45

Servings

Calories 353kcal

Author Sara Garska

Cost $15

Equipment

Hand mixer or Stand Mixer
mixing bowl
8 X 8 metal baking pan

Ingredients

Crust Layer

1/2 cups butter softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour

Apricot Nut Topping

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs well-beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
powdered sugar

Instructions

Rinse apricots, cover with water, and boil 10 minutes. Drain, cool, and chop.
Grease an 8X8 metal baking pan. Line with a strip of parchment paper if desired.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix butter, granulated sugar, and 1 cup of flour, until crumbly. Press into prepared pan.
Bake about 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Sift together 1/3 cup flour, baking powder, salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, gradually beat the brown sugar into the eggs.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix well.
Stir in the vanilla, nuts, and apricots.
Spread the apricot mixture on top of the crust.
Bake 30 minutes, or until done.
Cool in pan, before cutting into bars and rolling in confectioner's sugar.

Notes

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate only.

Prep Tips:

Color - When you shop for apricots, you might notice some packages have bright orange apricots and others have dark brown dried apricots. The bright orange apricots have a preservative applied and the brown ones probably don't. I used Turkish apricots that did not have a preservative. I was happy with the real apricot flavor. Next time I'll try the bright orange kind and see how they taste.
Origin - Most of the apricots you see in the store are from Turkey but the other producer is California, so you may see those as well. Both California and Turkish apricots are tasty and the differences are minimal.
Nuts - You can use either pecans or walnuts for these apricot bars. I used chopped walnuts for these. It was a perfect combination of flavors
Prepping the Pan - I used a strip of parchment paper to line my baking pan. It's not required but I like to remove the entire dessert from the pan so I can cut it into equal sized pieces. But it's perfectly fine to serve straight from the pan.
Leftovers - You can use your leftover dried apricots and nuts on a charcuterie board or have them for a healthy snack.
Storage - Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Nutrition