Recipe - Nutty Apricot Bars

12 ounce Apricots dried
Three fourths cup Sugar
Three fourths cup Butter / margarine softened
1 cup Sugar
2 cup Flour all purpose
One half teaspoon Baking soda
One fourth teaspoon Salt
3 ounce Coconut flaked
One half cup Pecans or walnuts chopped

Cover apricots with water, and bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer,
uncovered, 15 minutes or until tender. Drain reserving One fourth cup liquid.
Coarsely chop apricots, and set aside. Combine reserved apricot liquid and
Three fourths cup sugar in a saucepan; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in chopped apricots.
Cream butter; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating at medium speed of an
electric mixer until light and fluffy. combine flour, baking soda, and
salt; add floured mixture to creamed mixture, mixing well (mixture will be
crumbly). Stir in coconut and pecans. Pat about threefourths of coconut
mixture into and ungreased 13x9x2 inch pan. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
Spread apricot mixture evenly over crust, spreading to within One fourth inch from
edge of pan.
Sprinkle with remaining coconut mixture. Bake an additional 30 minutes.
Let cool in pan; chill. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator. Yield: about
4 dozen. From the Southern Living Cookbook

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini