Mary Berry's Apricot and Walnut Sandwich Bars

Hey all!

Today I beat the Quarantine boredom by making these beauties <3 

If a flapjack, a breakfast bar and a pie had a child, this would be it:

APRICOT AND WALNUT SANDWICH BARS

Mary Berry's recipes never fail, and this one was no different. I veganised this recipe to cater to my sister, and it came out just as tasty! Sweet and nutty with a fresh kick of lemon - I ate three in one go. No Guilt! As the age-old saying goes...'Calories don't count in quarantine.'

Scroll for the recipe xxx

Adapted from Mary Berry's Recipe in Mary Berry's Baking Bible

Ingredients:
Oat mixture

• 50g rolled oats
• 50g light muscovado (or brown) sugar
• 40g chopped walnuts (I had no walnuts in, so subbed for chopped hazelnuts, and doubled the amount because I was feeling nutty ;)) 
• 200g wholemeal self-raising flour (similarly subbed for white self-raising flour)
• 175g butter, melted (Subbed for Utterly Butterly vegan margarine)

Apricot filling

• 175g dried apricots
• 50ml water
• 2 tbs caster sugar
• Grated rind of 1 lemon

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 130° (fan oven). Line an 18cm square tin (I used a silicon one which makes it much easier to pop out the bars, and saves time greasing the tin!)

2) Prepare the apricots. Snip them into a pan with the water, sugar and rind. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool.

3) Mix the oats, flour, sugar and nuts in a large bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix well until the mixture forms a 'cookie-dough-like' crumbly texture. 

4) Press half of the oat mixture into the tin, layer on top with the apricot mixture, then finish off with the other half of the oat mixture.  

5) Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven until golden. Cut into bars whilst warm, and enjoy!

Mario xx