Using dried apricots: chop, soak, and combine
Dried apricots can be added to breakfast as pieces, in a casserole, or pureed into a spread. The preparation depends on what form you would like in the end.
- Small pieces: First cut into strips, then crosswise into suitable pieces.
- For spreads: Choose a recipe that involves soaking and subsequent pureeing.
- For a casserole: Check if the recipe uses soft fruit directly.
Cutting apricots into strips or cubes
Place the dried apricots flat on a sturdy board one by one. First cut them into strips and then, if necessary, crosswise into small pieces. For yogurt, oats, or a salad, small pieces are practical because the fruit can be spread across multiple bites. As a snack, you can place the fruits in a bowl uncut.
If the pieces stick together while cutting, separate them with a spoon before mixing them in. For baked goods, Dr. Oetker’s fruit cake provides a concrete example: the apricots are cut into small pieces and added to the batter along with other fruits. Source: Dr. Oetker, Fruit Cake.
For apricots in batter, the liquid is also part of the plan. Our guide Dried Fruits in Baking helps you distinguish when to add fruit pieces directly and when a recipe requires soaked fruits.
When soaking is part of the recipe
For a fruit spread, the preparation can look different than for visible pieces. In their apricot spread, Rapunzel cuts the fruits into small pieces, soaks them in orange juice, and then purees them with other ingredients. Source: Rapunzel, Apricot Spread.
Weigh the dried fruits before soaking them and measure the juice specified in the recipe. Also, check whether the liquid is to be used later. Pouring an arbitrary amount of extra soaking water into a cream changes the composition. A uniform soaking time for every apricot and every application cannot be derived from this.
Soaking example with measured liquid
Rapunzel's spread uses 100 g dried apricots and 100 ml orange juice. The cut fruits soak overnight in the refrigerator; the next day, the juice is pureed along with them. You can find the remaining ingredients and steps in the full recipe. These quantities apply to this spread, not to every apricot preparation.
Fruit pieces for breakfast and savory dishes
Combine small apricot pieces with natural yogurt and chopped walnuts, for example. For a couscous or rice salad, you can plan them as a fruity addition alongside cucumber and herbs. Start by adding a portion and mix through before adding more pieces. This ensures the amount of fruit remains balanced with the rest of the dish.
For a snack bowl, whole apricots and unseasoned almonds are a simple combination. Serve them separately if everyone wants to choose their own ratio.
A casserole is not the same as a spread
In the brown rice and apricot casserole by Rapunzel, soft apricots are explicitly diced and mixed directly with the other ingredients. Source: Rapunzel, Brown Rice Apricot Casserole. This example shows why the required fruit form is important: a recipe using soft apricots is not evidence that every firmer dried fruit can be processed in the same way without preparation.
Prepare only the portion needed
Cut the amount for your dish and store the rest according to the package instructions. A finished spread with juice and other ingredients requires the storage method of that specific recipe; the instructions for dried fruits do not apply unchanged. You can find further ingredients for your creation in the Dried Fruits category.
You can find the respective product information on the dried apricots page.