Apricots, Apricots and more Apricots

Last year thanks to a neighbor and her tree I received a ton of apricots.  This year at harvest time I wasn't prepared for it.  I had just spent a day making plum jam so turning around and making more jam didn't sound like fun. 

My intention here is to get a list of possible things to do with apricots when I don't feel like canning.

Yesterday I made an Apricot Slivered Almond bread (see recipe below), taking my Strawberry bread recipe and modifying it using what I had on hand, apricots and almonds.  I also made salad dressing and added sliced apricots to a salad.  After searching the internet and my own cookbook here is my list of possibilities.  The internet recipes are tagged with an "W" and I have yet to try them.  I found a bunch on All Recipes some are for dried apricots.

Sauces:

• Jams, Jelly and preserves
• Syrup (W)
• Apricots - whole or half canned

Drinks:

• Apricot Liqueur
• Apricot margarita
• Mirmosa

Breakfast:

• French Toast topping
• Waffle or pancake or crepe topping
• Oatmeal

Appetizers:

• Feta stuffed apricots
• Bruschetta topped
• Sliced sausages in an apricot sauce
• Apricot & feta dip
• Cheese plate
• Apricot Salsa (W)

Soups:

• Apricot soup - cold - need to try to revise an existing recipe using cantaloupe
• Apricot Lentil soup (W)

Salads:

• Mango Cucumber Quinoa rice salad - modify existing recipe
• Couscous Salad - modify existing recipe
• Fruit Salad
• Green Salad with sliced apricots

Veggies:

• Glazed Carrots (W)

Potatoes:

• Sweet Potato casserole - try

Chicken/Pork:

• Make a sauce, like a BBQ sauce or a puree, to pour over chicken or pork

Breads:

• Apricot Bread (based on my Strawberry bread recipe - shown below)

Desserts:

• Cakes (frosted, coffee, pound, dump, etc.)
• Pies
• Cobblers
• Tarts
• Fruit leather (6/26/13 - see notes below)

APRICOT BREAD
3 C. flour
2 C. sugar
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 ¼ C. canola oil
2 C. apricots, pitted and diced
1 C. slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 2 loaf pans. In a large bowl whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients, eggs and oil. Combine wet with dry. Fold in strawberries and nuts. Pour into two loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or till knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes, then remove from the pan onto a wire rack to completely cool.

Next time I'll put this in smaller pans so I can give more away.

FRUIT LEATHER
14 apricots (lb.)
1/2 C. sugar
1 t. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 170F.  Remove pit and dice apricots.  Add everything to sauce pot and cook to melt sugar.  Pour mixture into a blender and puree.  Grease a cookie sheet and line with parchment paper.  Pour fruit over parchment paper and bake for 6-10 hours.

Note:  Although the recipes I found said 6-10 hours after 10 hours the outsides were too dry but the middle was still wet.  This wasn't bad but I doubt I'll ever make it again.  The original thought was to add them to Christmas goodie baskets.  One way this might be better is if you had a convection oven where the air circulated giving you even cooking.  My oven is old and not the best anymore.