Orchard Date Apricot Bars Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix oats, flour, 1 cup brown sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in butter until mixture is crumbly.
• Press a little over half of the crumbly mixture into the bottom of a 10x15-inch baking pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until starting to brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Combine remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, dates, apricots, and orange juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir until thickened, breaking up any clumps, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Cool filling slightly, about 5 minutes.
• Drop spoonfuls of warm filling over the crust. Spread evenly with an offset spatula. Sprinkle remaining crumbly mixture evenly over the filling; press gently into the filling.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Cut into 1-1/4x2-inch bars with a pastry cutter while still hot. Cool bars in the pan, about 20 minutes.

Steps:

• Place 1/2 cup of brown sugar into a saucepan along with the dates and apricots; pour in the apricot nectar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until the nectar has mostly evaporated and the mixture is sticky, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Grease a baking sheet.
• Stir the melted shortening and vanilla extract into 1 cup of brown sugar in a large bowl until no lumps remain. Stir in the flour mixture and oats; work well with your hands until the mixture is evenly combined. Press half of the oat mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread the cooled apricot mixture evenly over the oats, then press the remaining oat mixture evenly over top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars and serving.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. , Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine apricots, water, almonds, lemon juice and remaining sugar. Cook and stir until thickened, about 15 minutes. Cool completely. , Divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion to 1/8-in thickness. Cut half of the dough with a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Cut second portion with a 2-1/2-in. doughnut cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. To assemble, spread bottom of solid cookies with filling; top with cutout cookies. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• In 2-quart saucepan, mix orange juice, dates, apricots and cherries. Heat to boiling over medium heat. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 30 minutes. Drain. In small bowl, mix dried fruit and apricot jam.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, place cookie mix and cinnamon-sugar packet. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through mix in opposite directions), until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture. Press remaining mixture in bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool.
• Top partially baked crust with fruit mixture. Mix reserved 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture and the pecans. Sprinkle over fruit mixture.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 1 hour. Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar and dates. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 1-1/3 cups and is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. , Remove from the heat. Stir in spreadable fruit until blended; set aside. In a food processor, combine the oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add butter; cover and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. , Press 3 cups crumb mixture into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread date mixture to within 1/2 in. of edges. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture; press down gently. , Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares.