First Place Apricot Date Bars Recipes

APRICOT-DATE BARS

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.

FIRST PLACE APRICOT-DATE BARS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• 2. For the crumb mixture, in a large bowl blend shortening, sugar and vanilla. Sift flour, soda, and salt and add to bowl. Add the oatmeal; work well with hands. Press 1/2 of the mixture onto a medium greased cooking sheet, pressing down firmly.
• 3. For the apricot filling, put the pitted dates, dried apricots, brown sugar, and apricot nectar in a sauce pan and cook for about 5 minutes until thick. Stir constantly as it can easily burn. The apricot nectar should evaporate while it cooks. Cool slightly (about 5 minutes) before spreading on crumb mixture. Once cool, spread apricot mixture on top of the crumb mixture. Top with the rest of the crumb mixture, pressing down firmly. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is brown. Cool before cutting and serving.

DATE OR APRICOT SQUARES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan (not necessary with nonstick pan).
• Combine butter, 1 cup flour and the granulated sugar in a food processor. Pulse until ingredients are pebbly and crumbly; mixture will be quite dry. Press into pan, and bake for 15 minutes or until shell is evenly cooked.
• If fruit is very dry, stew it in water to cover in a small saucepan until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain very well, then chop. Combine in a bowl with eggs, brown sugar, remaining flour and salt.
• Remove pan from oven, and pour fruit batter over crust. Bake until lightly browned and firm on edges but still a little soft in middle, about 30 minutes. Cool, then cut into squares and serve. Store, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.

APRICOT DATE SQUARES

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.

APRICOT AND DATE BARS

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.

GRAN'S DATE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring dates and water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer and stir until thick, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract.
• Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, walnuts, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add melted butter; mix until blended.
• Pour 2/3 of the oat mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish, pressing over the bottom and sides. Spread the date mixture over the oats; crumble remaining oat mixture evenly on top. Press down lightly.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, about 25 minutes.

ORCHARD DATE-APRICOT BARS

Steps:

• In medium saucepan, mix all filling ingredients until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Spray rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with cooking spray.
• Mix brown sugar and oil in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients; mixture will be moist and crumbly. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Spread with date-apricot filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture; press lightly.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack about 1 hour. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.