APRICOTS are my SUMMER SYMBOLS, wherever I may be (or dream of being) especially while enjoying glorious summer holiday mornings, if possible, close to the Mediterranean Sea (or at least close enough to feel and smell a salty sea breeze). That freshness, crispness, clarity and transparency in the air as you’re having breakfast, ideally composed of some iced coffee with cream, fresh bread, cold butter and apricot compote or a thick plain yogurt with wild honey and some nuts. All of this happening during that quiet peacefulness and slow pace of those early hours, before everybody else gets up and the full heat of the sun’s rays (and the people you'll meet and the day) blast your surroundings, making things fuzzy and hazy, beating down on your head before you’ve even had the time and the foresight to get everything ready quickly enough and escape to a quiet, remote beach. These simple ‘yeasted’ BREAKFAST-CAKE SQUARES with APRICOTS & ALMONDS are reminders of those lazy Mediterranean mornings. It’s like beginning the day with pre-toasted, pre-buttered, pre-jammed and pre-sprinkled bread, but without repeating the seemingly endless rituals morning after morning . . .
That’s what I like and need in summer. I’ve done enough working, worrying, organizing, cleaning, cooking, caring, behaving, ocassionally entertaining and all that stuff all year long, so I bid a warm and open-armed welcome to anything that will seem like a brief moment of respite (after the initial effort of preparation of course). This is how I want to start my days off, whether at home or far away.
We all need a «break».
I’ve actually readapted my simple sliced sandwich bread recipe (see the recipe here) and included and incorporated all these extra ingredients as a summery version of this bread, but as a breakfast cake. Sweeter, more buttery, fruity and nutty. It still has a tight crumb like sliced bread but it resembles a cake because of all that added sugar (which I sometimes reduce for a more neutral bready version or increase for a truly cake sensation). Then again, I’m not eating this breakfast cake alone so I adapt myself, my preferences and the recipe to others around me.
Anyways, they're quite DELICIOUS, DELIGHTFUL, DELECTABLE … and I’ll always post at least 1 apricot recipe every summer (see the other 2 recipes here & here).
Where are you guys now ? Are you going away on holidays ? Are you working on your gardens ? Are you thinking of re-painting your homes ? Are you actually resting and reading a book ? Are you trying to catch up on doing those chores you couldn’t get to during the working months ? Are you just eating, drinking and napping ?
TRY TO TAKE IT EASY.
Holidays can be exhausting too . . . :)
