Monday 16 December 2013

Day 11: APRICOT LINZER BARS



Ken Maher, from our Annapolis Royal branch baked these little treats, which will be making an appearance at the Berwick Library today. The recipe is from the book Cookies for Christmas by Jennifer Dorland Darling.




The traditional raspberry-and-almond flavour combination of the Viennese linzertorte is replaced here by apricots and hazelnuts. 

Prep: 25 minutes         Bake: 35-40 minutes
1.      Grease and lightly flour an 11 X 7-1/2-inch baking pan; set aside.
2.      Place nuts in blender; blend until nuts are finely ground. Stir flour into nut powder and set aside.
3.      For batter, in a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg until combined. Beat in as much of the flour-nut mixture as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour-nut mixture.
4.      Evenly spread about 2 cups of the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon apricot preserves over batter to within ½ inch of the edges. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over the preserves.
5.      Bake in 350-degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the batter comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Sift powdered sugar over top before cutting into bars. Store in refrigerator or freezer. Makes 15 to 24 bars.

Ingredients
1 cup hazelnuts (or almonds)
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ to ½ teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup apricot preserves
Powdered sugar

Baker's NOTE: I substituted powdered almonds on my first batch, and I sprinkled a few finely-chopped dried apricots on the apricot jam layer.

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