I really wanted pie. But besides the fact that I am entirely, uncharacteristically out of butter [gasp!], the thought of making pie crust in this sticky weather was far from appealing. So I improvised a bit.
Yesterday morning, I happily swam - er, walked to the farmers' market in a welcome downpour. All the colors of the flowers and produce popped so beautifully in the wet greyness; I was particularly drawn to the fresh apricots, and am I ever glad that I took them home with me. I'd been thinking about the drool-worthy apricot tart that C. made recently. Why not try to recreate it, minus the tart part?
Yum. These simple baked apricots tasted like candy! They're not fancy, but they were just what I wanted. Always looking for an excuse to break out the cute creme brulee dishes, I experimented by slicing one apricot into quarters and another into eighths and put one sliced apricot in each dish. (You could use any ovensafe dish - small, large, whatever.) I liked the eighths a bit better because the smaller slices meant more slightly-caramelized edges, but both worked. I added a bit of almond extract because I love the apricot/almond combination; vanilla would be great, too. And while I used granulated sugar, just a bit of brown sugar might also be delicious.
Yes, obviously, I ate both dishes. All in the name of research, of course!
Baked Apricots
2 apricots
1/2 tsp. sugar
pinch salt
dash of almond (or vanilla) extract
[These are approximate and could be adjusted for any number of apricots.]
1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Slice the apricots into quarters or eighths. Toss in a small bowl with the sugar, salt, and almond/vanilla.
3. Place in ovensafe dish; they can touch but shouldn't overlap too much so that they can caramelize evenly.
4. Bake for 45 mins., until beginning to caramelize. Enjoy!
Mmmm. With vanilla ice cream and a Belgian cookie.
ReplyDelete