Apricot Pistachio Squares

Apricot pistachio squares – a buttery shortbread base, nutty pistachio frangipane and juicy late summer apricots. Easy and gorgeous afternoon tea slice! Jump to Recipe 

The countdown is officially on. In five days time I head back to Melbourne, ready (hopefully) to start the first semester of my second year of medical school. I am hugely excited to get back into it – to see people who I haven’t seen for going on three months now, meet more new people, to learn more, to visit more cafes – you name it! I must admit that I am also slightly apprehensive about both the increased second workload and facing hall food again, but these small qualms are far outweighed by the former.

One thing that I will miss is being able to make things like these apricot pistachio squares. The effort, time, and money required for me to do baking of any significance at college does prevent it happening very often (not counting my frequent batches of one pot raspberry brownie!).

These squares are a recipe by Deb from Smitten Kitchen, which I was actually initially slightly uncertain about making. Although her photos looked beautiful and I really wanted to use up a bag of apricots, I am a little ambivalent on the subject of pistachios -sometimes okay with them, sometimes really not. I eventually went ahead with the reasoning that it would be devoured by the rest of my family, even if I wasn’t so sure.

I was proved wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. This slice was heaven. Buttery, crisp pastry base was covered in a slightly salty, not overpowering pistachio frangipane and topped with sweet and juicy apricots. My self-control was severely tested in not wolfing down the whole lot at once. In fact, just writing this is making me sure that I will need to do a repeat in the next 5 days: the first batch disappeared within 24 hours of coming out of the oven – thanks boys!

All I can say is please do not make my mistake of wasting time trying to decide whether you will like this slice. Unless you are allergic to pistachios or have a deep rooted dislike of apricots, you will love it, I promise.

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Apricot Pistachio Squares

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

From Smitten Kitchen

Course: Baking

Servings: 16 squares

Author: Claudia Brick

Ingredients

Base

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter , cut into squares

Pistachio Frangipane

• 3/4 cup (110 grams) shelled unsalted pistachios
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons (75 grams) sugar
• 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 400 g ripe apricots (4-5), halved and stones removed
• Icing sugar to dust

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line the base and sides of a 20cm square baking tin.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and sugar. Add the chunks of butter and process until it forms large clumps - may a minute or so. Press the dough firmly and evenly into your baking tin with floured fingers. Bake for 15 minutes or until very pale golden.
3. In your food processor (don't bother washing it out), grind the pistachios, flour, salt, and sugar to a powder (or as fine as you can make it!). Add the butter and process until no longer visible. Add egg and vanilla, blending until it forms a smooth paste.
4. Spread the filling over the cooked base. To decorate like I have in the photos, cut the apricots into diagonal strips, then slide each half onto a knife and fan over the pistachio frangipane. Alternatively, you could put the halves straight on or cut the apricots into slices and decorate as you wish.
5. Bake the slice for 50 minutes, or until they are golden and a skewer inserted into the pistachio comes out clean. Leave in pan to cool.
6. Dust with icing sugar to decorate and cut into squares. I couldn't wait for them to cool and cut them while still warm - and they were amazing - but Deb recommends to rest them in the fridge to cool completely before cutting.
7. Keep left over slice in the fridge.