And the Heat Goes On!
When my kids were young we lived on a farm which meant a summer filled with all kinds of activities. We didn’t even consider camps or trying to figure out what to do to keep busy. There were always lots and lots of things to do. 4-H meetings, festivals and the county fair. My kids always had a summertime project or friends who wanted to spend time riding horses or exploring the areas around the little town we lived in.
Their cousins, from Phoenix, usually spent at least a week with us and we’d plan outings to little junk stores or days and days going to yard sales in the country. We’d find all kinds of great stuff! Things other people considered useless. We’d buy it for 50 or 75 cents, only to discover, we really didn’t really need it either. We soon discovered that, if you went to yard sales you also needed to have garage sales. So, sometimes we’d gather all our great finds and spend hours agonizing over how much our precious finds had surely appreciated since we bought them. After much effort, we would put signs up at the end of the road and spend 2 days haggling over a dime and then 2 more days cleaning up the treasures that would be put in a cardboard box until another day when surely the remaining treasures would find a home.
Summers were also a time of trying to keep large groups of children fed and sometimes that could be a challenge especially when the grocery store was 20 minutes away. Many times some of my favorite recipes were recipes I could never make again. My daughter is grown and goes to the store to get the ingredients for soup but when she was growing up soup was not a planned meal but a way to use leftovers so every soup was a new recipe dependent on what the refrigerator yielded that day. Sometimes the recipes worked and sometimes they didn’t but it gave me and opportunity to explore and be creative.
So, when I had the chance to enter a granola contest to create a summertime snack recipe, I decided to give it a try especially since I got to create my recipe using Golden Girl Granola which is a family based company based in Shirley Massachusetts. The granola which features all natural ingredients and is made in small batches. It is also absolutely delicious so I was sure anything I made with it would taste good.
If you want to try some for yourself go to
This recipe is based on 2 of my favorites, granola bars and baklava and features apricots and granola in a no sugar added fun and healthy summer treat, the kids and adults will enjoy.
Apricot Granola Bakla-Bars
¾ cup Golden Girl Home Sweet Honey Granola
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons lemon zest
6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
⅓ cup finely diced, dried apricots(about 12)
6 tablespoons apricot preserves, divided
1-8 oz roll phyllo dough, room temperature
⅓ cup butter melted
⅓ cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¾ cup water
1.In a small bowl combine granola, walnuts and lemon zest
2.Cut cream cheese into dime sized pieces
3.Place 4 tablespoons apricot preserves in microwave bowl and microwave in 20-30 seconds intervals until easily spreadable
4.Unroll phyllo and cut to fit 8x8 square baking pan. Quickly remove a single sheet of phyllo and place in the bottom of pan. Brush with butter. Remove another single sheet and place on top. Repeat until you have 6 layers. Sprinkle the top with ½ of the granola mixture. Top this with ½ of the cream cheese and dried apricots. Drizzle with ½ of the melted apricot preserves. Place another single sheet of phyllo and butter and repeat with 5 more layers of phyllo and butter. Top with remaining granola, cream cheese, apricots and apricot preserves. Top this with 6 more layers of phyllo and butter, generously brushing butter on top. Score phyllo, cutting through all layers, into desired size triangles or squares.
Bake at 350 degrees until top is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.
Sauce: Combine remaining 2 tablespoons apricot preserves, honey and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until mixture is reduced by ½, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Allow mixture to cool slightly and pour over bakla-bars. Allow to set for 2 hours or overnight. Serve at room temperature.
A new twist on an old favorite. These easy to make granola bars combine apricots and granola nestled between flaky layers of phyllo with an apricot- honey glaze. A touch of lemon adds just a hint of citrus that will remind you of a lazy summer afternoon.
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