Apricots have a wonderful sweet, tart flavor with a bright summery coloring. 23 pounds of apricots later, I now have more recipes to try then when I started. The apricots were originally purchased for apricot preserves; no other ideas had come to mind. Now, we have apricot preserves, apricot Riesling preserves, apricot nectar (all canned and look stunning in their jars), and apricot sunshine breakfast cake. Still to be made is fresh apricot ripple ice cream and apricot fritters, dusted with powdered sugar. Then the after products to be used with apricot preserves and dried apricots, like apricot oatmeal bars and apricot crescent cookies. I started wondering what to do and ended on overload!
Apricot Sunshine Breakfast Cake
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 Tablespoons butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar
cinnamon to taste
8 fresh apricots
12 pecan halves
Directions:
Heat oven to 375°.
Mix sugar, egg and shortening thoroughly. Stir in milk. Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.
Melt margarine or butter. Mix in brown sugar and sprinkle as much cinnamon over brown sugar as you wish.
Halve and pit apricots. Place cut sides down in rows of four. You may need fewer or more apricots, depending on their size.
Drizzle brown sugar mixture over apricots.
Spread cake mixture over apricots. Bake 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Place a plate over pan and flip cake out of pan. Place a pecan half in each apricot cup. Serve warm.
Apricot nectar is so much easier then I thought. Homemade nectar will now become a canning staple in my kitchen.
Apricot Nectar
1 quart apricots
1/2 cup sugar
1 quart water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Directions:
Wash and pit fresh fruit. Boil fruit and water 5 minutes. Strain. Add sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.
I canned my apricot nectar in a hot water bath. In canner, bring water to boil, enough to cover jars by 1-inch of water. Put jars with hot nectar in canner and bring back to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes and remove.