Sweet and aromatic dried apricot halves, otherwise called dried apricots, are known to all culinary specialists. Dried apricots are very often used in the preparation of various dishes, ranging from salads and snacks to baking and desserts.
Today we offer you two recipes for dried apricot pies. They will differ in the type of dough, in the consistency of the filling, in the number of ingredients. They will be united by one thing - the use of healthy and tasty dried apricots. By the way, nuts, prunes and raisins, as a rule, fit perfectly into desserts and pastries with dried apricots. Do not be afraid to experiment with products, try new combinations and tastes.
Loose dried apricots cake
The sour filling in this dish goes well with crumbly, sweet and crispy dough. This cake with dried apricots is an elegant, variable at serving and a very satisfying dessert. Dried apricots in the filling are presented in the form of homemade jam, which makes the dish even more tender and light in taste. By the way, filling is done using kitchen appliances, which saves time and does not get your hands dirty.
Essential Ingredients:
- Flour - 1.5 cups.
- 2 cups of sugar.
- 160 g butter.
- 2.5 cups of water.
- 250 g dried apricots.
Cooking stuffing
As a filling for a cake with dried apricots (a photo for an example is given below), homemade jam is used. It is prepared in 15-20 minutes. First of all, dried apricots for the filling must be thoroughly washed and sorted out, sorting out poor-quality pieces. Put dried apricots in a small saucepan and add water in the amount indicated in the list of ingredients. We put on a slow fire and cook for about ten to fifteen minutes.
After a specified period of time, we transfer dried apricots into the blender's container. All the liquid that did not have time to evaporate also goes there. The mass after whipping is quite thick, so if necessary, you can add half a glass of water.
If the blender is not at hand, you can use a conventional meat grinder. The result should be a viscous and thick filling. Do not overdo it with water, otherwise the filling for the cake with dried apricots will turn out to be too liquid and the baking will “float”.
Try the filling to taste. If it is too acidic, add a little sugar. If, on the contrary, the mass turned out to be very sweet, then add a teaspoon of orange, cranberry or lemon juice.
How to make dough?
The dough for the dried apricot pie recipe is prepared from only three products. No baking powder, chicken eggs or yeast. Put the butter in the container from the food processor (mixer) and knead it a little with a fork. Pour sugar into the butter and begin to mix at low speed. It is important to remember that the more acidic the filling for the pie is supposed to be, the more it is recommended to add sugar to the dough.
We switch to medium speed, mix the butter and sugar mass, gradually including flour in it. The result is friable oil grits.
At the bottom of the mold or baking sheet we put a layer of foil. We put half the dough on it and level it. We spread the jam from dried apricots. Pour the rest of the dough on top. We put in the oven, heated to 200 degrees, for twenty minutes.
Yeast cake with dried apricots and prunes
Do you like hearty and lush yeast pastries? Then we offer the following recipe for dried apricots pie. It is very simple to execute, but differs from the previous one by the longer process of preparing the dough.
Ingredients for the pie:
- Six spoons of water.
- 25 g of “live” yeast.
- 2.5 cups flour.
- 4 tablespoons of low fat mayonnaise.
- Two eggs.
- Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons.
- 200 g dried apricots and prunes.
Cooking method
In order for the dough to turn out to be saturated with oxygen and quickly come up, the yeast in the first stage must be put in a glass of hot water. Leave them for half an hour to form a “hat”. After that, you can add yeast to the flour. There we break a couple of chicken eggs (preferably homemade), add a pinch of salt, a little sugar, mayonnaise and a spoonful of vegetable oil. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
We put the dough for proofing. While it will rise, we are engaged in the filling. Dried apricots washed thoroughly, sorted out, discarding low-quality pieces. With prunes (or raisins, if you selected it as a set for dried apricots), we do the same. Soak dried fruits briefly in warm water. We spread them on a paper towel so that they dry out a little. Sprinkle a little sugar powder on dried apricots and prunes, mix. This will avoid the appearance of an ugly sticky filling inside the cake.
We divide the dough into three pieces. Each roll out in a small circle. We spread the first layer of dough to the bottom of the mold and lay on top half of the harvested dried apricots and prunes. Cover the second round. We spread the remains of dried fruits. Cover with the last layer of dough. Lubricate it on top with a brush with the yolk of a chicken egg.
Preheat the oven to 160-170 degrees. While the oven is warming up, the cake with dried apricots and prunes will have time to infuse, come up again. Bake for 30 minutes.