More Apricot Recipes
I wrote the other day about the kindness of my neighbor in sharing the bounty of her orchard. This time it was an abundance of apricots. I came home with a large bucket full of the beautiful little fruits wondering what to do with 30 pounds of apricots. Well, I have the answer – more apricot recipes.
What Does One Do with 30 Pounds of Apricots?
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As I mentioned in the first post I made several batches of apricot sauce and one of jam. I still had some apricots left but I did plan that as the hubby and I were heading over to friends’ house for dinner. It was a potluck and I was asked to bring dessert. I was happy with this as you all know how much I love to make dessert.
What to Make?
I knew that someone else was bringing a cake so I wanted to stay away from my favorite – the bundt cake. I therefore turned to my second favorite dessert, the cheesecake.
I figured a delicious New York cheesecake topped with some fresh fruit would be a perfect dessert for this time of year. Our blackberry bushes (bushes?) are really producing right now so they were the perfect foil for the apricots.
I decided that I wanted to make something else ’cause I was in a baking mood and I had some apricot topping leftover. I thought that a dessert pizza would be a good choice; similar to the cheesecake but a little bit different. Both are recipes I’ve shown before on the blog but the toppings are different and I did make a slight change to the dessert pizza – I brushed the edge of the crust with an egg wash and then sprinkled sugar in the raw on it before I baked it. It gave the crust a little shine and added a lovely bit of sweet crunch.
Apricot Recipes
For the Cheesecake:
10 graham crackers
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 8 oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp cream of tartar
For the Dessert Pizza:
1 package active dry yeast (1/4 ounce)
6 TBS warm water
4 TBS unsalted butter at room temperature
2 TBS brown sugar
1 large egg
2 TBS grated lemon zest or 1 TBS lemon powder
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
Lemon Curd:
8 TBS unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
Cream Cheese Filling:
1 package (8oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBS Lemon Curd
Assorted Fruit – I used:
Apricot topping
kiwi fruit – 3
cut up pineapple 1 cup
blackberries in syrup 1 cup
egg wash – 1 egg mixed with 1 TBS water
sugar in the raw
For the Apricot Topping:
2 cups chopped apricots
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp butter
For the Blackberries in syrup:
2 cups blackberries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
For the Cheesecake:
Preheat oven to 350°
Crush the graham crackers to a fine crumb. I put them in a zip bag and whack them with a rolling pin.
Add the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and melted butter. Mix well and pat into the bottom and up the sides of a 10? springform pan.
Add the cream cheese and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached.
Beat until smooth.
Add the eggs, vanilla and cream of tartar and mix well.
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 50 – 55 minutes until the cheesecake is just set. It should still be a little jiggly in the center.
Let cool and remove the ring. Cool completely.
For the Dessert Pizza: (you can see a pictorial of this recipe HERE)
Add the yeast to the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes.
Add the butter, brown sugar, zest (or lemon powder) coriander and salt.
Beat well – it will look quite curdled. Don’t worry
Add the flour in three batches, mixing well after each addition.
Knead the dough for about three minutes – it is a wet dough. Don’t add more flour.
Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl and let rise until doubled about 1 1/2 hours.
Make the Lemon Curd:
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium high heat.
Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice and salt.
Whisk in the yolks until smooth.
Return to the heat and slowly cook until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Strain the curd into a bowl and let cool.
Preheat oven to 500°
While the oven is heating roll dough into a circle large enough to fit your pizza stone or on your largest cookie sheet.
Turn the edge in and tuck it under.
Let the dough rise for 20 minutes.
While the dough is rising make the cream cheese filling:
In a stand mixer with the paddle attached add the cream cheese and sugar to the bowl and beat until smooth and well combined.
Add the egg and mix well.
Add the lemon curd and mix well.
Pour the cream cheese mixture in the middle of the dough round and smooth to the edges.
Brush the edge with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar in the raw.
Bake in the preheated oven for 6 – 8 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.
Make the apricot filling:
Add the apricots, lemon juice, butter and sugar to a medium pot over medium high heat.
Heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and let cook for about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool.
For the Blackberries in syrup:
Heat the water and sugar over medium high heat until the sugar melts.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Add the blackberries.
To finish the cheesecake:
Add about a cup of blackberries in syrup to the center of the cooled cheesecake.
Surround with apricot topping
To finish the Dessert Pizza:
After the pizza has cooled start adding the fruit toppings.
Cut the kiwi into half moons and lay around the outer edge.
Follow with the apricot topping, then the pineapple with the blackberries at center.
Both desserts were very tasty and judging by the way they disappeared I think everyone enjoyed them. I have more blackberries in the ‘fridge so who knows what I’ll do with them. Stay tuned! I hope you like what I did with all of my apricots – oh, I forgot! I also made a batch of apricot conserve. I’ll show you that on another day. It’s been busy….
