It has been awhile since I’ve gone nuts over a recipe. These bars are AMAZING. I had some dried apricots in the pantry and was trying to decide what to do with them when I came across a unique looking recipe for baked apricot bars, courtesy of David Lebowitz and Baked. I think I died and went to heaven when I first took a bite. These bars have a layer of rosemary shortbread on the bottom, brandy-infused apricot paste in the center, and a brown sugar pecan crumble on top. Put all your other recipes aside and make these right now!
I made a few modifications to the original recipe. I didn’t have California dried apricots, which are less sweet, so I added 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice to the apricot filling. I made a few other minor changes to the filling and crumb topping. The results were stunning.
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Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups dried apricots
- 3/4 cups white wine (I used Vendange Chardonnay, great for cooking)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (omit if using California dried apricots)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped
- pinch of salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
Instructions
- Grease the inside of a 9x9 inch pan (I use baking spray) and line it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides of the pan.
- To make the rosemary shortbread, cream the butter, powdered sugar and salt in a stand mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and rosemary, then lower the speed and gradually add the flour until the dough is smooth.
- Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Take some time to do this nicely so your layers are beautiful and clean. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the shortbread for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Make the apricot filling by combining all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Allow to cool and then puree in a food processor until smooth.
- Make the crumb topping by combining all ingredients in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until the mixture is just combined and crumbly. Don't over-mix, you want texture.
- Spread the apricot paste evenly on top of the shortbread. Make sure it's level!
- Sprinkle on the topping evenly and gently press it into place. Again, make sure it's level; when you cut the bars you want three even levels.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the topping is brown. I turned on the broiler for a couple minutes at the end to get the top extra crunchy. If you do this, watch carefully to avoid burning.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.
Oh my goodness, the recipe sounds great. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, brandy, rosemary and apricot. These sound simply amazing.
They really are. I had to give the rest away or I would have eaten every single one of them.
Hello and thank you for visiting my blog. I have whizzed my way through some of your posts and have to say your blog is lovely as are the recipes. This particular one I will be trying very soon.
Take care,
Kate
This looks AMAZING ! I have been hankering to bake something yummy – thanks for sharing this recipe !
nice photo… excellent styling!
Hi and thanks for visiting What About This?. These bars sound amazing and with a room-sized mound of rosemary in my backyard and fresh California apricots just around the corner, there’s no excuse for me not to try this recipe!
Let me know what you think if you make them!
This sounds SO divine! and apricots! yum c
I can’t wait to try these! Thanks for sharing!!
What gorgeous photos! I love this recipe, the results look amazing. What a great combination of rosemary and apricot.
Beautiful! Those look de-lish!
Hola! This looks muy delicioso! I’m always looking for new ways to utilize all the rosemary I have growing in my garden, and I think this could be a good answer. Thanks for the recipe :)
I’m jealous that you have a garden with rosemary! I can’t seem to get anything to grow properly in my apartment. Enjoy!
These look beautiful. Yum!
Your recipes look wonderful, and the pictures are gorgeous! I’m putting a link to your site on my blog.
Best wishes,
Nancy Brown
Thank you, I’m honored!
Jen,
the picture looks amazing! you did such a great job with the styling etc!
i’m a fan of any kind of fruit bars, especially when there’s alcohol is used.
Thank you! Slow and steady progress!
It still wasn’t good enough for Tastespotting but at least Foodgawker showed me some love.
Those look delightful. And full of wine, which makes everything better. I need to try them with pumpkin seeds instead of pecans in the topping. (Dried apricots stuffed with pumpkin seeds are one of my favorite snacks ever.)
Yumm…apricot and rosemary sound soo good together!
What a fabulous recipe – great combination of flavours.
Have a happy day.
:-) Mandy
no way! Those are getting made!:)
I think I will try these – sound amazing.
Okay, so I made these last night… And, as they definitely do not look like your beautiful jewels they are amazing. Really strange combination of flavors, a bit surprising, but refreshing and vibrant in your mouth.
I will also be gifting some of these! I had one with my coffee today and wanted another straight away! I will post pictures from my expierience soon at Pantry and Fridge, so you can see them.
THANKS!
These look amazing, but I have never thought to use rosemary with anything sweet before…now I’m curious ;) Thanks for sharing!
Breathtaking! I am salivating!
I’ll save this! :-D
Hi Jen,
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I’m so glad I checked yours out… straight to my favorites! I love your recipes and pictures, and am personally dying to go to culinary school so I’ll enjoy reading about your experience. Take Care!!
I love your website!!! I think I will make these for Rosh Hashanah. I have everything but the fresh Rosemary in the house…and I am drooling over these bars! Also I thank you for visiting my website, A Tzimmes.
You said in the recipe for Apricot Bars that you altered the topping, but you didn’t say how. Want to share that information? :)
I will be following you! Thanks again for the recipe and visiting A Tzimmes!
I didn’t alter it too much. I chopped the nuts finely instead of coarsely because the source I referenced said their topping was too crumbly. I added an extra tablespoon of butter for the same reason. It came out perfectly.
Gorgeous – at the top of the list after my raw experience. I’m sure the kids will love them too! Thank you.
What a great combination of flavors! It looks oh so scrumptious! I was an apricot maniac as a small child in Los Angeles. We had an apricot tree in the yard and I begged for them everyday. Once in Detroit, I discovered my grandmother’s lemon meringue pie and forgot all about apricots. I didn’t rediscover apricots until I was a teenager.
There needs to be more desserts featuring the apricot.
I would never have thought to put rosemary + apricot together – delicious!
Thank you so much for the like on my lemon curd post! Your site is beautiful.
XO – Hilary
Thanks for subscribing to my blog! Your blog is awesome! I’m totally going to make these for my “fall party” next week. I was expecting them to have some sort of milk product, and I’m allergic to milk protein (butter seems to be OK though!), and pleasantly surprised that I can eat these! Think this would work well with other dried fruits? Or even fresh fruits?
I would use dried fruit so you can make a paste filling with the right consistency. Fresh fruit will probably thin out too much. But I think any dried fruit would work well. Maybe dried figs?
This looks wonderful. I wonder if I could do an adaptation for my Low Amine blog (http://aminerecipes.com) that would work? I’d need to use fresh apricots, cashews, and nix the brandy. You think it would work? I’m not much of a baker, myself…
Nixing the brandy and using cashews will be fine, but I’m not sure how well fresh fruit will work. You need to make a layer thick enough to be sliced through and hold it’s shape. Even if you cook away most of the liquids it will probably be thin. I’m not really familiar with the basics of low amine cooking. Can you use any dried fruits?
Awesome photo, looks yummy!
Your Pumkin Bundt Cake was fantasic — now I”m excited about trying the Rosemary Apricot Bars — keep on posting — love recipes so far.
Wow these bars look incredible! I’m a huge fan for herbs in desserts. I’ve got to try these :)
These look tremendous – I love the interplay of sweet and savory. I’m definitely going to have to give them a shot.
Rosemary and apricot? Sounds like a really specia combol. I bet they’re very taste-y :)
Wow, these sounds positively DIVINE – especially the brandy-infused apricot paste layer! And of course, you can never go wrong with a crumbly topping.
I’m adding these to my “must make ASAP” recipe pile! YUM X 10000000!
Wow, those look really good :-)
These look delicious! A perfect sweet/savory combo for the fall!
This literally made my mouth water. They look great,
These look AMAZING! I was actually going to try and experiment with a rosemary or lavender shortbread. I just might have to put that endeavor on hold and give these a try. Yummy!
Gorgeous photography! This recipe sounds divine!
Oh my, I have got to have this!! The different layers sound heavenly.
THIS I gotta try!
This really sounds heavenly. My mom is crazy for apricots and I have tons of rosemary. I’m going to bookmark this recipe and make some for her. Thanks!
omg, these sound so good. I’ll have to try them.
These look/sound amaaazing!
Oh my! I’m making this this weekend! This is gonna be one tasty slice!
Wow, what an intriguing combination! I love herbs in just about anything, rosemary in particular. Great find, thanks for sharing!
Yum. These look sooo good!
These are gorgeous little bars. I use rosemary in sweets often. It’s the perfect herb!
This looks absolutely divine!
HI, loved your blog…amazing recipes!!
I love how you use herbs like lavender and rosemary in your cooking. I would never have thought to have rosemary in a shortbread but this recipe sounds amazing !
I am completely intrigued. I had a dessert in Germany that had a sprinkle of this very special rosemary and sugar topping for my special type of goat cheese cheese cake. Amazing flavor the rosemary brings to dessert. I want to try your dessert and then try a sprinkle of my special rosemary dessert powder on top. Thanks for this beautiful recipe.
Read about this recipe in the NY times and started rooting around at all the different versions. I made your recipe last night.
These are delicious. When I make them again, and I will, I plan to stir in two tablespoons of cognac just prior to the puree stage. I will also put a touch of grated lemon peel in the crust.
I am also planning to make these with dried cherries and bourbon for a filling, with a topping of smoked almonds.
My version can be seen here: http://www.mosesjonah.blogspot.com/2012/12/cookie-smackdown-here-we-come.html
They’re so good, aren’t they? Probably one of my favorite desserts on the blog. All of your ideas sound amazing!
OK, I made them again, but this time I made one significant change and I will never make them any other way again. I know this will gross out a lot of people, but here goes: I cut them into tiny square and topped each one with a tiny bit of Australian blue cheese. I served them with red wine and people positively swooned over them. SWOONED!!! I’ve never seen such a reaction. It is my new go-to hors d’oeuvres.
One more thing: I did a double-overhang of parchment, which kept the apricot filling from turning so brown on the edge.
I think that sounds incredible! I love mixing sweet and savory.
Are these more of a dessert or appetizer?
It’s definitely a dessert!
These apricot bars look absolutely divine! I would love to try them…which brings me to this question…what would you use in place of the wine? We don’t drink alcohol and so I was wondering what you would suggest as an alternative. Thanks so much!
You could try using water instead? I can’t promise the same flavor but there’s really no other substitution in this instance.