Mr. Food Test Kitchen: Feb, 5, 2013 Apricot Crumb Bars
By: Jayne Ann Bugda
Updated: February 5, 2013
HR: Nothing seems to warm up our kitchen (or our hearts) better than a homemade right-out-of- the-oven dessert, and who better to help me than my good friend, JM Hirsch, a self-proclaimed dorky dad and the Food Editor at The Associated Press. Welcome back. JM: Thank you so much. You know, I love to bake with my son, Parker, but any recipe you do with a kid has to be fast, it has to be easy and, most importantly, it has to be delicious. HR: And I know Parker is like your biggest critic.
JM: Oh my gosh, if I can earn his thumbs up, I know I've got a good recipe. HR: So the crumb bars we're making today ... they really must be amazing. So what do you say we stop talking and start baking? JM: Let's do it. HR: Ok. JM: Over here, in a food processor, I've got some flour, cornmeal, sugar and a little bit of butter, and we pulse it a few times, and it's going to end up looking like wet sand. HR: And if you don't have a food processor, you could do this with a hand mixer, but this way is a lot faster. JM: Now we'll press about of the dough into the bottom of a baking pan to make our crust. We'll spread some apricot preserves over it, making sure it's nice and even. For our crumbly topping, we're going to mix our leftover dough and a little bit of brown sugar. If we want, we can top this off with a few chopped nuts. I like pine nuts, but you can use whatever you like. HR: And after it bakes, we cool it before cutting them into squares - and that's it. And if your mouth is watering, don't worry. JM's recipe for "Apricot Crumb Bars" is online now, and I bet you're gonna love 'em.
JM: Now you see why Parker gives these a thumbs up. HR: Thanks Parker. Not only are these easy, but with every bite there's lots and lots of, as Mr. Food would say ... "OOH IT'S SO GOOD!!"
JM: Oh my gosh, if I can earn his thumbs up, I know I've got a good recipe. HR: So the crumb bars we're making today ... they really must be amazing. So what do you say we stop talking and start baking? JM: Let's do it. HR: Ok. JM: Over here, in a food processor, I've got some flour, cornmeal, sugar and a little bit of butter, and we pulse it a few times, and it's going to end up looking like wet sand. HR: And if you don't have a food processor, you could do this with a hand mixer, but this way is a lot faster. JM: Now we'll press about of the dough into the bottom of a baking pan to make our crust. We'll spread some apricot preserves over it, making sure it's nice and even. For our crumbly topping, we're going to mix our leftover dough and a little bit of brown sugar. If we want, we can top this off with a few chopped nuts. I like pine nuts, but you can use whatever you like. HR: And after it bakes, we cool it before cutting them into squares - and that's it. And if your mouth is watering, don't worry. JM's recipe for "Apricot Crumb Bars" is online now, and I bet you're gonna love 'em.
JM: Now you see why Parker gives these a thumbs up. HR: Thanks Parker. Not only are these easy, but with every bite there's lots and lots of, as Mr. Food would say ... "OOH IT'S SO GOOD!!"
