Apricot Oatmeal Bars

Hi, friends. Yesterday, I spent part of the day going through my kitchen cupboards and pantry checking expiration dates and rotating items to make sure I had the products with the closest expiration date on top of each neatly stacked row or up front in the cupboard. I wasn't surprised to find items that needed to be used. Here are two of the items I found that had passed their expiration date:

I had bought this can of apricot filling almost a year ago when we made our first trip to Morro Bay. When we go to a new town and stop at a grocery store I always end up in the baking aisle to see what they have that we might not have in our stores here. Well, I had never seen this apricot filling before and just had to buy it at the time and yet there it was sitting on the shelf still waiting to be used. 

When I pulled it off the shelf, I had no idea what I would make with it, so I decided to see if the label had recipes on the back and sure enough - it did. The Apricot Oatmeal Bars sounded good to me and the best choice since oatmeal was one of the listed ingredients in the recipe and also one of the items in my newly created 'expired section' of the cupboard. 

I happened to have all the ingredients for the recipe in my pantry. How I love it when that happens! What's great about this recipe is that it is a one-bowl recipe. You cut the butter in with the flour mixture and add the rest of the ingredients, except for the filling, and mix together.

Next, you spread and press half of the mixture into a 9" x 13" baking pan and then spoon the apricot filling over the top and spread it around as best as you can. Then you sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top.

The result was a crumbly, soft granola bar that my husband went crazy over. He said this was my best cookie yet. In fact, he liked it so much that he didn't want any of the crumbs to go to waste and used them to sprinkle over his cereal.

All those hours I spend looking through recipes in books, online, and in my recipe files and he says the best cookie I have made yet is from a label on a can. Go figure.

Thank you, SOLO!

SOLO Apricot Oatmeal Bars (slightly adapted)

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1-1/2 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts*

1 can SOLO Apricot, Red Raspberry, or Strawberry Filling

*I used pecans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13" x 9" baking pan and set aside. Combine flour, brown sugar, and baking powder in medium-sized bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add oats, coconut, and nuts, and mix until crumbly. Press half of mixture into prepared pan. Spoon apricot filling over crumb mixture in pan. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over apricot layer. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes approximately 36 bars.