Apricot Pistachio Bars
Being back on the West Coast has proven to be everything I dreamed. I have been able to reconnect with family and friends from all phases of my life in the last month. I am also extremely lucky to have had time to ease into my residency and not start didactics until later in the summer. I mentioned in my last post that we have been focusing on fresh produce from the farmers markets. I’ve been mostly searching recipes based on ingredients online, but recently pulled out a Christmas present from one of my cousins – Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman. In my opinion, Deb Perelman can do no wrong so I was excited to try her Apricot Pistachio Bars.
Summer has been so full of wonders. The stone fruit at the markets have been juicy and delicious, so this recipe really qualified in our quest to cook seasonally. I also got unreasonably excited to see Nichols Farms pistachios at the market just around the corner from my new home, so this recipe really feels like a little taste of our childhood home to share with my brothers this weekend.
I have been working my way through creating and ticking off a Seattle bucket list. I recently went for a run to the lighthouse at Discovery park on an absolutely gorgeous day. I was hoping to take my brothers out for a hike or kayak adventure this weekend, but got a taste for the rain that is to come instead. Really working on storing up sunny day memories to get me through my first Seattle winter! The gorgeous Pike Place flowers are certainly helping – I still haven’t gotten over how spectacular the bouquets are for such a reasonable price.
But back to these apricot pistachio squares. These don’t have too much added sugar and count on the natural sweetness of the fruit. At least this is what we told ourselves as we ate them for breakfast instead of dessert all weekend. There are a few steps involved, but overall they are really quite easy to make if you have a food processor or good blender! I made mine in my trusty Ninja that I droned on about in a previous post. While I still dream of the day I have a food processor, it worked quite well. This recipe would probably respond really well to substitutions for your favorite nut or stone fruit. Let me know what combinations you try!
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
- 3/4 cup shelled unsalted pistachios
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- Few pinches of sea salt
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter, cold is fine
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 1 pound firm-ripe apricots
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut two 12-inch lengths of parchment paper and trim each to fit the 8-inch width of an 8×8-inch square baking pan. Press it into the bottom and sides of your pan in one direction, then use the second sheet to line the rest of the pan, perpendicular to the first sheet.
- Combine the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into cubes, and add it to the bowl. Blend in food processor until the mixture clumps together. Transfer the dough to your prepared baking pan and press evenly across the bottom and 1/4-inch up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes, until very pale golden. Transfer to a cooling rack in your freezer for 10 to 15 minutes while you prepare the filing.
- In your food processor bowl, grind pistachios, sugar, flour and salt together until the nuts are powdery. Add butter cubes and blend until well combined. Add almond extract and egg, blending until just combined.
- Spread pistachio filling over mostly cooled crust. Cut apricots in half and remove pits. Cut and arrange apricots over the pistachios in whatever pattern you would like.
- Bake the bars for 60 minutes, or until they are golden and a toothpick inserted into the pistachio portion comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan - cooling can be sped up in the refrigerator.
- Sift powdered sugar over the top to finish.
- The bars will cut much more cleanly if cut once completely cooled. I cut mine after refrigerating.