Apricot and Chocolate Chip Nut Bars

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've been saving a series of bar cookie recipes that I wanted to share with you when time and an appropriate occasion converged. It's finally happened. All of the recipes I've been working on have a couple of things in common. They are easy to prepare, but the ingredients used to make them are expensive. Working on the theory that you get what you pay for, I overlooked price and picked a couple that had the greatest visual appeal to me. The recipes came from a special interest publication, The Best of Fine Cooking Cookies, and because of the caliber of these recipes I knew the cookies would be worth the time and cost required to make them. That proved to be the case. These fruit and nut bars will appeal to those who enjoy European-style fruit-based desserts. They are very rich, a bit sweeter than I like, but they are festive and quite appropriate for a holiday table. The recipe is straight forward and you will have no problems if you follow it as written. I do hope you will give it a try. Here is how the fruit bars are made.