Apricot Purée Recipes

APRICOT PUREE

Steps:

• Place the apricots in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover them.
• Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until apricots are very soft. Drain the apricots, reserving the cooking liquid. Set the pan aside for later use.
• Place the apricots in 2 batches in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the metal blade. Puree by pulsing on and off until the apricots are smooth. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid, if necessary.
• Scrape the puree back into the large saucepan and stir in the brown sugar and lemon juice. Cook over low heat, stirring continually, until the sugar is dissolved, about 5-10 minutes.
• Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, until needed.
• You can use this as is, for a filling, or if the flavor is too concentrated, add it to some buttercream. Then you will have an apricot buttercream filling.
• I torte my cakes into four cake layers and like to do three filling layers as follows:.
• Cake, filling, cake, buttercream flavored with filling, cake, filling and final cake layer. By doing this, you will have two layers of the apricot filling, one on the bottom layer, and one on the top layer and a middle layer of the buttercream flavored with the filling. The buttercream will take on a very pale peachy color.
• Just remember to pipe an icing dam around the layer before spreading the apricot filling.

SWEET POTATO AND APRICOT PUREE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Prick potatoes and bake in middle of oven for at least 1 hour, or until very soft. Allow to cool and then scoop flesh into a bowl.
• In a saucepan cover apricots by 1 inch with cold water and simmer until soft, about 30 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid and drain apricots.
• Puree apricots in a food processor with the granulated sugar and reserved liquid, until smooth.
• Add puree and salt to potatoes. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread mixture into a greased shallow 2-qt baking dish. (Note: Puree may be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead and kept chilled and covered).
• Reduce oven temperature to 400.
• In a small bowl blend remaining ingredients (flour, brown sugar, butter, pecans, and dash salt) with your fingers until combined well. Sprinkle over puree. Bake in oven until heated through and topping is bubbly, about 15 minutes.

APRICOT PURéE

Steps:

• Stir all ingredients in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture simmers. Cover and cook until apricots soften, about 6 minutes; cool. Transfer mixture to processor and puree until almost smooth (some apricot bits will remain). Refrigerate. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.)

ITALIAN APRICOT FOOL

Steps:

• Put the apricot halves in a saucepan with the lemon zest and juice and the sugar. Shake the pan to combine, then simmer, uncovered, over a medium heat until the apricots are soft. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
• Tip the contents of the pan into a blender or food processor and whizz to a purée. Decant into a bowl, stir in the liqueur and leave to cool - about 20-30 minutes.
• Soften the mascarpone in its tub by whisking it vigorously with a fork. Whip the cream in a bowl - you want it softly whipped not stiff. Fold in the mascarpone with a large metal spoon, then lightly swirl in the apricot purée to make a pattern.
• Spoon the mixture into six wine glasses. (At this point, they'll keep in the fridge for up to a day.) To serve, crumble over the amaretti, with a few on the side for dunking.

HOW TO MAKE APRICOT PASTE

Steps:

• Add apricots and water to a large, preferably non-stick, saucepan.
• Bring almost to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until apricots are tender.
• Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
• Transfer to a food processor, or use an immersion blender.to puree the fruit. You should have about 5 cups of puree.
• Return puree to saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice.
• Simmer mixture over low to medium-low heat until mixture thickens, stirring often to prevent scorching. This took me about 1 and ¼ hours.
• Thickened mixture will leave a clear space in the pan when you pull your spoon through it.
• Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan and let cool.
• Let the paste dry at room temperature until the top is dry and no longer sticky. Remove from pan, invert and let the bottom dry. This may take anywhere from 2-3 days in an arid environment to a week or more. Alternatively, dry in a food dehydrator or set in the sun to dry (cover with cheesecloth to keep the bugs away!).
• Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 months.