Not very healthy but delicious--Apricot Oatmeal Bars

Apricot Oatmeal Bars
William-Sonoma The Kid’s Cookbook Copyright 2000

¾ cup butter, cut up
2 teaspoons soft butter for greasing foil
1 cup firmly packed dried apricots
1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Put the ¾ cup butter in a small saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the butter is melted, about 2 minutes. Using a pot holder, remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with a large piece of aluminum foil (some foil hanging over the edges is fine). Light grease the foil with the soft butter. Using kitchen scissors, snip the apricots into about ½-inch pieces.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended and no lumps of sugar remain.
4. Add the snipped apricots, melted butter and vanilla to the bowl. Stir until well blended. The dough will be moist and crumbly. Dump the dough into the prepared baking pan. Press the dough into the pan with your fingers.
5. Bake until the top is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the pan from the oven and set on a rack to cool completely.
6. Lift the foil and the oatmeal bars from the pan and place on a work surface. Peel away the foil from the sides and the bottom. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the big square into 1 ½ -by-3-inch rectangles. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 18 bar cookies.
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Okay, these aren't the healthiest treats with all that butter and sugar but they were good. Come on, butter and brown sugar? What could be better? The turkish apricots I used were very good too. Commercial granola bars aren't found in our cupboards since even the peanut and nut-free ones are almost always made on shared lines and I just don't trust them. So these would satisfy any granola bar cravings I might have and even though they aren't exactly healthy, every ingredient is recognizable. They would be good with raisins, dried cranberries or any other dried fruit of your choice. If nuts or peanuts aren't a problem for you, they would be great thrown in too.

I've been tired and busy and the result of that is my grocery bill is rising again. It requires a lot of focus to keep my grocery bill down and I just haven't had it lately. I need to regain control!

Blast From The Past: Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes from February 2007. I think I'm making pancakes for dinner one night this week. I got a deal on some turkey breakfast sausage patties.

Question of the Day: Do you eat granola bars? What kind do you like?