Apricot-Oatmeal Bars with Pistachios and Chocolate Chips

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love a parade and because I am relentless, my friends have learned to love them, too. Today, I shanghaied them for a trip to Portland to see the Rose Parade. Our crew gets larger every year and when we get together, we look like we're on a field trip, enjoying a day away from the home. I suspect we were quite a sight. In addition to chairs, we were also lugging picnic hampers for lunch in the park to round out the day. Food for the picnic was a communal affair and I was the designated dessert lady. I made several types of bar cookies because they travel well and could hold up to the jostling that would get them from here to there. I'll eventually be sharing all the recipes with you, but tonight I'd like to focus on the one that made the cookie that I liked least. Let me hasten to add, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these cookies, save for the fact they are too sweet for my taste. The sweet lovers in the group enjoyed the bars and they were gone by the end of the afternoon. The cookies, while expensive to make, are simple to prepare and all the information you need to successfully make them is in the recipe below. If you have a sweet tooth, I suspect you'll love these bars. Here is how they are made.

Apricot-Oatmeal Bars with Pistachios and Chocolate Chips...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Fine Cooking magazine

Ingredients:
9-ounces (2 cups) all purpose flour
1-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
8 ounces (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 ounces (about 1 cup) chopped, shelled natural pistachios
1/2 cup diced dried apricots
1/2 cup white chocolate or semisweet chocolate morsels
1 (15-1/4-oz.) jar apricot preserves

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Using an electric mixer, combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt; mix on low speed until well combined. Add butter and mix on medium until butter is mostly blended and mixture appears moist and begins to pull together, about 3 minutes. Stir in pistachios. Transfer 1-1/2 cups of crumb mixture to another bowl, then stir dried apricots and chocolate morsels into it, and refrigerate.
2) Firmly press remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan. Bake in middle of oven for 25 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes (leave the oven on). Spread apricot preserves evenly on top, leaving a 1/8-inch border around the edge of the crust.
3) Crumble reserved crumb mixture over apricot preserves. Return to oven and bake until lightly browned and fruit filling is bubbling all over, including the center of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing into 18 bars (or into smaller pieces, if you like).

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Pistachio Coffee Ring

Unshelled Pistachios - Flickr Creative Commons ASA License



Pistachio Kernels - Photobucket Creative Commons ASA License





From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...My husband loves pistachio nuts, so when I saw this recipe I had to give it a try. It was developed by James Beard and I've never been disappointed with his recipes. I think I began this adventure with expectations that were too high. This is the type of bread that old timers called a race track. The race track is formed when a rectangle of dough, covered or smeared with a filling, is rolled into a cylinder that, when cut, will show spiral tracks of whatever was used as a filling. Now comes the hard part. I hate to contradict a master, but Beard thought this to be "one of the best breads of this kind I have ever had." I found this to be a very ordinary bread made expensive by its use of pistachio nuts. There is nothing wrong with it, but neither is there anything here that's worthy of commendation. If you like coffee breads, or are a fan of pistachios, you may like this bread, so I'm posting the recipe with reservations. While it is gorgeous to look at, it's too sweet to be a bread and not sweet enough to be a coffee cake. I'll let you judge for yourself. Here's the recipe.

Pistachio Coffee Ring...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided use
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
8 tablespoons softened butter, divided use
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shelled, salted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:
1) Combine yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar and water in a large mixing bowl. Set aside to proof, about 5 minutes. Add milk, 4 tablespoons butter, salt and 1/2 cup granulated sugar to yeast mixture. Add flour, a cup at a time, beating well after each addition. I used 3-1/2 cups flour to mix and 1/2 cup to knead.
2) Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form into a ball, place in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3) Melt reserved 4 tablespoons butter. Set aside. Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan. Set aside. Punch dough down and turn onto a floured board. Let relax for about 10 minutes. Roll into a 18 x 12-inch rectangle. Brush surface of dough with butter. Sprinkle with reserved sugar and pistachio nuts. Using long end, roll dough as for a jelly roll, sealing each seam as you roll. Join ends of roll and seal together to form a ring. Transfer ring to baking sheet. Slice 2/3 of the way into ring at 3/4-inch intervals. Twist each slice to right so filling is facing upwards. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush surface of ring with beaten egg. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until nicely brown. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 12 servings.

Other coffee rings can be found at:
Recipes for the Future - Almond/Pecan Coffee Ring
Annie's Eats - Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
breadbasketcase - Chocolate Almond Coffee Cake Ring

This recipe is linked to:
Wild Yeast - Yeast Spotting