One thing fathers have in common: they’re all special! Their interests may be as diverse as their food preferences, but on Father’s Day we all like to spoil them with some of their favorites. Although not all dads will admit they have a sweet tooth, most can’t resist a homemade dessert to finish off their favorite meal.
These Fried Apricot Pies make a great dessert to round off a meal, or even a tasty snack later in the evening with a cup of coffee. If your family takes Dad out to a lake or park for his big day, these fried pies are just the right snack to eat outside around a campfire.
The recipe calls for a pie crust, but I’ve found you can also use small flour tortillas right out of the package. You just put a few tablespoons of the dried apricot filling (recipe below) or your favorite canned fruit pie filling in the center of the tortilla, wet the outside edges, fold in half and press a fork dipped in sugar around the outside edges to secure the fruit inside. After removing them from the frying pan, you can dust the hand pies with powdered sugar or sprinkle a mixture of sugar and cinnamon over them.
Happy Father’s Day!
FRIED APRICOT PIES
1 (6-ounce) package dried apricot halves, chopped
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
Vegetable oil
Powdered Sugar
Combine apricots and 1 1/4 cups water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender. Mash apricots; add sugar, apricot preserves, spices and lemon juice; set aside.
Unfold 1 pie crust and press out fold lines. Roll pie crust to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut into five 5-inch circles; stack circles between wax paper. Repeat procedure.
Spoon 2 tablespoons apricot mixture on half of each circle. Moisten edges with water; fold dough over apricot mixture, pressing edges to seal. Crimp edges with a fork.
Pour oil to depth of 1-inch into a heavy skillet. Fry pies in hot oil (375 degrees) for 2 minutes or until golden, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. This makes 10 pies.
Note: I make my own pie crusts, rolling out the dough a little thinner than I would for a regular pie. To make the 5-inch circles, I use the lid from a cottage cheese container or other similar plastic container and press it down into the dough. If the lid doesn’t go completely through the dough, at least you have the marking for a perfect circle and you can run a knife around the outline to cut it through. I use a wide pancake turner to lift out the circle of dough to finish making the pie.
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