Apricot Shortbread Bars bring back childhood memories for me. My grandfather had an apricot tree in his backyard and every summer we would can and dry all the apricots we couldn’t eat to bring home with us. I’ve never been able to find apricots on the East coast like they grow in California. The ones we get in the grocery don’t even come close to what I remember.
Do apricots ripen off the tree
In my opinion they do not ripen after they’ve been picked, they only soften. Some people will tell you that if they are colored and soft when picked they will ripen. However, in my experience if they ripen any, it’s only slightly. Since apricots are such a delicate fruit, I guess they have to pick them before they’re ripe, or they would be mush by the time they made it to the East Coast. My advise is don’t bother buying apricots on the East coast, you’re going to have to stick to canned, frozen or dried.
How do you make Apricot Shortbread Bars
Tips for cutting perfect bars
Once you’ve made the perfect apricot shortbread bar, you want to be able to have beautiful squares.
- To get perfect squares for any dessert bar I always line the baking pan with parchment paper with enough to hang over the two ends of the pan. This way you can easily lift it out of the pan to cut. If you don’t have parchment paper, tin foil will also work.
- For most recipes, it helps to first let the bars cool to room temperature and then refrigerate. This will help you get pretty cuts without the bars falling apart.
I shipped these to Natalie and she loved them. I would suggest taking these to your next tail gate or pot luck. While brownies are the standard for tail gates, these can withstand the heat and still keep their crunch. Plus it’s something a little different that everyone will love. Nana sent me this recipe from an old Junior League Cookbook printed in the 80’s from Owensboro Ky. I love these old cookbooks, you can find some of the best recipes.
More recipes that use apricots
- Apricot Dijon Chicken
- Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies
- I’m going to try this dried apricot tart from The Spruce Eats
- Dried apricot muffins sound delicious too from The Southern Plate
Looking for more delicious dessert bars
- Pistachio lemon bars are great for an after dinner treat
- Feel like summer, try some S’more Bars with Rice Krispies
- Try a classic snickerdoodle like bar
- If you like fruit, then you’ll love apple pie bars
Apricot Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 12 ounces dried apricots (11/2 cups)
- 1 ¾ cups sugar sugar divided
- ¾ cup butter softened
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sweetened coconut toasted
- ½ cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, cover apricots with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until soft. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup water. Place water back in saucepan and add 3/4 cup sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved.
- Chop apricots and add to saucepan.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and 1 cup sugar and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together four, soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined. Add toasted coconut and pecans.
- Place 3/4 of the mixture into prepared pan, pressing it with the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake for 10 minutes until it is golden brown. Remove from oven and spread apricot mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining crust over the top and bake an additional 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Notes
Tips for perfect apricot bars
- Start with softened butter. If you press your finger on it it will indent but not go all the way through.
- Line the pan with parchment paper to make it easy to remove when cooled.
- Refrigerate after cooled to make cutting into bars even easier.
This recipe is amazing! I made them this weekend with dried apricots as you suggested and everyone loved them. The toasted coconut makes the crust taste delicious. A fantastic buttery fall dessert! This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked them. I thought the crust was the best part!
OMG!!! I searched for just this recipe, bars based on apricots and coconut. I just made these and I am sitting here seriously eating one warm. Couldn’t even wait. Anyway I did drizzle thinly with a lemon royal icing and all I can say is this recipe is going into to Superbowl menu that I am planning now. That and thank you Barbara!!
Oh my, lemon glaze sounds fabulous.
Wow! I usually go toward chocolate but with not a morsel in the house, I remembered these. The crust is a little piece of heaven! I seriously don’t know how else to say it.. I’m a fan of shortbread but the addition of coconut and pecans put this right over the top! I also didn’t have any dried apricots but used some jam that I thinned out a bit. I cut them into small bite size pieces and have to stop myself from popping one into my mouth when I walk by. Easy, delicious, and beyond heavenly! Thank you Barbara!
Great way to improvise with jam! I’m such a fan of anything with coconut. Glad these were a success.
The best apricot bar recipe I have ever made! Served with fresh whipped cream. They are amazing!
Whipped cream with them is a great idea!
THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING!!!
Honestly I have never EVER made sweets, so it’s my first time and very successful! I had some dried apricots and wasn’t sure what to do with them. Looked online and found this recipe. Decided to make and if it wasn’t successful I would throw it away (since no experience in making sweets). But instead, came up great. It’s very easy to make and time consuming in moment of instead going to the store and buy cravings to make it at home. The only thing I have changed was the pecans since I did not have some and switched with walnuts, it’s great too.
Barbara, I thank you for this recipe! ❤️
Dani, I’m so glad you tried these, they are one of my favorites. I hope you’ll try some more recipes from the blog, homemade desserts are the BEST!
Very delicious, and exactly what I had expected. We used to live in a town known far and wide for the bakeries, and I grew up with a large variety of delicious desserts. The town we currently call home does not have those same types of bakeries. But when I find a recipe like this, I don’t miss the bakeries at all. Thank you.
Louise,
Thank you so much for taking the time to add a comment. With everything going on right now, it was great to open my e-mail and see that you have enjoyed one of my recipes.
Barbara!
I’m happy to report that I have some ripe & fresh apricots on hand and would love to make these bars. Have any advice on how many?
So first, I’m jealous! I have not made these with fresh apricots. Since you are reconstituting the dried apricots in this recipe and there are about 24 dried apricots, I would try using the same amount of fresh. The apricot mixture should be cooked until it’s thickened, like a jam consistency. Let me know how it turns out, I think they will taste great, I’m just not sure if the fresh apricots will make it too juicy. If so, you can enjoy with a fork!
These are delicious!!! I made them per the instructions, and they turned out perfectly. I tried the tip with the parchment paper in the hopes of cutting the bars consistently. I’m still hopeless where that’s concerned. 🙂
Mine are never exact either but one tip if you want them even is to remove from the pan and cut the whole pan in half in both directions. Then cut the additional rows depending on the size. You could also use a ruler but I’m never that particular.
Have you ever tried alternative flours, i.e. coconut, almond, macadamia nut flours? Getting back into my more keto friendly recipes, so I’m curious if you’ve already had success with using/mixing any of the above. Will most certainly try this recipe, as-is – regardless!
I have not tried any other flours, but even eliminating the flour, I’m not sure you could make this keto. You could always cut them smaller and still have a treat without as many carbs. If you are going Keto, Sausage Balls with Almond Flour are a blog favorite along with Queso Chicken.