Last winter I came up with a Dried Apricot Conserve. I think it could be adapted for your purposes if you wanted to give it a shot. I don't have a recipe per se, but took notes, thank goodness. This conserve is very rich, almost like a mincemeat, so it would work well as a cookie filling or in tiny cream cheese pastries, stirred into a frosting for a Lane cake-style filling. Or as a topping for mini-scones. Or just stirred into plain quickbread batter for an instant fruit-nut bread. Toast 1/2 cup blanched almond slivers. Soak 8 oz. sliced dried apricots and 1 cup golden raisins in 3 cups water to plump. Next day cook apricots, raisins and cooking liquid until fruit is tender. Supreme one large orange (remove segments from between membrane). Remove about 1/4 of peel sans pith and julienne finely. (Don't grate; you don't want it to disappear into the conserve.) To the soaked apricots and raisins I added the orange segments, the peel and 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (I needed a second orange for that.) plus the juice of one lemon. I also tossed in one 8-oz. can of crushed pineapple. Gently heat and add sugar. I used about 2 1/4 cups. (I'm not sure but that seems about right.) Once dissolved, bring up the heat and cook to jell point. Finally I stirred in the toasted almonds and 2 T. amaretto. Let me tell you, the result was terrific. I don't see why something similar wouldn't work with your boozy apricots. Oh, I used Turkish apricots. California ones would be much more mouth-puckery and might require some correction in sweetening. There's a good amount of natural pectin in this conserve, so you could even stir in a bit of honey near the end. Just don't overdo it or you'll interfere with the set. Hopefully this gives you some ideas. Carol

Sure, as I already mentioned above there are several recipes here for Apricot Pineapple Jam that a search will pull up for you with a bit of digging (can't recall for sure which threads they are in). Here's the one we use: Apricot Pineapple Jam 3 cups apricots, pitted and chopped 1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in juice 1/2 cup lemon juice 1 package pectin (any powdered brand) 1/2 teaspoon butter 8 cups sugar (can be reduced slightly) Measure apricots into 6-8 qt. saucepot. Add pineapple and lemon juice. Stir pectin into fruit mixture. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add butter. Stir in sugar quickly and bring back to a rolling boil and boil exactly 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim foam, ladle into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads, cover with two piece lids, and process for 10 mins. in BWB. Makes about 9 cups of jam. Dave

OK, it was just re-posted by request July 19, but here it is again: APRICOT AND VANILLA JAM Makes three to four 1-cup jars 2 1/2 pounds apricots 3 3/4 cups sugar 1 cup water 2 vanilla beans, split in half Juice of 1 small lemon 1. Pick: Only perfect and perfectly ripe apricots will do. 2. Array: Assemble your tools: Copper jam pan or other medium-sized heavy low stockpot, canner or large stock pot, ceramic bowl, skimmer, wooden spoon, ladle, sieve, jar-lifter, tongs, candy thermometer, timer, parchment paper, clean dish towel, 4 1-cup Mason jars plus new lids, bands and labels. 3. Macerate: Rinse apricots in cold water. Cut them in half; discard pits. Mix apricots, sugar, water, vanilla beans and lemon juice in the bowl. Cover with parchment paper, pressing gently so paper touches fruit. Refrigerate 1 hour. 4. Simmer: Scrape apricot mixture into the jam pan. Bring to a simmer. Pour back into bowl. Press on parchment paper and refrigerate overnight. 5. Sterilize: Next day, wash jars, bands and lids. Set aside bands. Put lids in a small saucepan. Simmer 5 minutes. Let lids sit in hot water. Set jars in a stockpot. Fill pot with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Let jars sit in hot water. 6. Boil: Set the sieve over the jam pan. Pour apricot mixture through the sieve. Remove and discard apricot skins; set aside apricot halves. Bring accumulated juices to a boil. Skim thoroughly and continue cooking on high heat until syrup reaches 220 degrees on the candy thermometer. Add the reserved apricot halves. Bring to a boil again and cook 5 minutes. Continue to skim carefully and stir gently. Remove the vanilla beans and cut into 2-inch lengths. 7. Fill: Use jar-lifter to grab 1 jar in its hot water bath. Tilt to empty, carefully. Ladle hot jam into hot jar, right up to the top. Add a length of vanilla bean. Wipe top edge with a clean damp cloth. Use tongs to set 1 hot lid on top. Screw on band. Turn jar upside down to seal and cool.* Fill the rest of jars in the same way, one at a time. 8. Store: When cool, check that the lids are concave, indicating a good seal. Label and store on a cool, dark shelf up to 1 year. -Adapted from "Mes Confitures" by Christine Ferber *The USDA considers inversion canning inferior to this boiling-water process: Follow the recipe above, leaving 1/4-inch headroom in jars. Wipe rim, set on lid, screw band finger-tight. Keep jars upright. Transfer to a canner and process 5 minutes. Lacking canner, set a round cooling rack or several inverted ring bands in the bottom of a stockpot. Fill pot with water. Bring to a boil. Using a jar-lifter, lower filled, sealed jars into the pot until submerged by 1 inch. Cover pot. When water returns to a boil, time 5 minutes. Lift out jars. Cool. Store up to 1 year. For details and high-altitude adjustments, see homefoodpreservation.com. Carol

Bejay, The texture and how they behave is really different btwn dried and fresh/frozen. You could try it with a much-reduced amount of liquid (vinegar); the result would presumably be sweeter because of having less sour to counterbalance? This may be one recipe where you want to break down and use store-bought dried fruit. For one thing, it tastes SO GREAT with the dried fruit, and I find that FRESH apricots make SUCH a difference in so many other recipes (jams, curds, etc.) that I figure, you may as well use the fresh and frozen ones in places where they'll be an asset like that, and use the commecial dried ones in this recipe where they actuall work better! Z, jealous of the 'cots in your freezer; the season for them is SO short here, coinciding with a time when we travel a lot for craft shows, and nobody right in the region grows them, so I missed out on any fresh local ones entirely this season.... and they're my FAVE fruit of all... I am not sure I would trade the white Christmases for them, but ALmost...