With the Lenten season coming to an end, I’ve set my sights on finding a dessert recipe that would have just enough sweetness to top off anyone’s Easter meal.
Christine Coyle, blogger of the former Hye Thyme Café website, posted a recipe
for Apricot Almond Bar Cookies which sounded pretty close to what I had in mind,
so, I decided to try it. I tweaked it a bit to suit our taste buds and came up with a mighty-fine two-bite dessert that’s a little sweet with a hint of tart – perfect with a cup of coffee or tea!
for Apricot Almond Bar Cookies which sounded pretty close to what I had in mind,
so, I decided to try it. I tweaked it a bit to suit our taste buds and came up with a mighty-fine two-bite dessert that’s a little sweet with a hint of tart – perfect with a cup of coffee or tea!
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| Apricot Almond Cookie Bites |
Apricot Almond Cookie Bites
adapted from Chris Coyle’s recipe at Hye Thyme Café
adapted from Chris Coyle’s recipe at Hye Thyme Café
Yield: about 32 – 1 ½ inch squares
Ingredients:
10 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1 stick, plus 2 Tbsp.)
2 cups light brown sugar, loosely packed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup dried apricots, diced
1 Tbsp. flour
1 cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove saucepan from heat to cool.
Once butter-sugar mixture is cool, stir in the vanilla extract and beaten eggs until well-combined. Transfer the butter mixture to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour into the butter mixture, beating after each addition. The batter will be quite thick.
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| Apricot bits coated in flour |
Coat the chopped apricots with 1 Tbsp. flour to help keep the pieces from clumping together.
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| Finished cookie batter |
Fold the apricots and chopped almonds into the batter until evenly distributed.
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| Skillet-toasted almonds |
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9”x 12” baking pan. Using a rubber spatula, spread the batter evenly into the baking pan.
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| Batter evenly spread in baking pan |
Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Place the baking pan on a cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting into 1 ½-inch squares.
For an attractive presentation, place each square in a mini muffin paper liner and arrange on a platter.
Ha! Forgot you had made this adaptation. I'm waaaay behind in going through my Feedly blog feed and the title caught my attention when just scrolling through. Wonder why??? 😉 I love anything that involves apricots, almonds, or lemons. Saving this to try your version when I get a chance.