Dessert from the pantry: dried fruit squares

Annalena would like to see a show of hands:  how many of you have bought dessert for a dinner because, well, making one was just too much trouble?  Or,  while wanting something a little dressier, convinced yourself that "fruit is the best dessert after all," and served a fruit salad, or sliced apples, or something along those lines?

Well, ragazzi, there is absolutely nothing wrong, and everything right with serving fresh fruit for dessert, but you see , here's the thing:  if you are trying to fool yourself into thinking it is something else, the only one who is going to be fooled, is  you, and later that night, you are going to raid chocolate, candy, or something, because that sweet tooth urge, has not been satisfied.

Trust la strega on this one: she knows whereof she speaks.  And so do you.

So what if Annalena told you she has a "dessert for all seasons," that you can make at the drop of a hat, and will make everyone happy.  All you will need is some dried fruit - even - as they say in a little night music  "raisins."  In fact, raisins would make this mighty fine.

Don't believe her?  Shame on all of you!  Annalena may fib, but of food, she never lies.

This dessert actually qualifies more as a cookie, but if you put this in front of people for dessert, they will be happier than if you put just about anything else in front of them.  Put out some ice cream, and you have what may very well be the apotheosis of a weekday dessert.

Now, Annalena presents this dessert as if you are going to make it for immediate service.  But you can make the components ahead of time.  You can certainly make the crust way ahead of time and freeze it, and it will take you all of about six minutes when you use a food processor.

So here we go.  Let's make the crust.  You will need a heaping 2 cups of flour, and a cup and a half of confectioner's sugar.  Put that in a blender with a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of baking powder, and two sticks of room temperature unsalted butter, cut up.  Finally, IF you like (Annalena does), add a cup of nuts.

Now, pulse this mixture until you get fine crumbs.  It will not take long.  Pull out 2 cups of it and set it aside. That is the smaller quantity, and that will be your topping.  The rest will be your crust.

Not too hard, huh?   So, let's assume you had a few minutes during the week and  you made this for later in the week.  Put the stuff in bags, and freeze it.

And now, the filling.   The basics are 2 cups of dried fruit and a cup and a half of water.  And then,  "stuff."
Let Annalena explain:  every dried fruit has a complementary flavor, and every dried fruit works better with one thing than another. For example, with apricots:  vanilla and ginger are great.  For cherries:  almond extract.  For figs: lemon.  Raisins:  maybe some sweet wine.  Play with combinations.  Be your own artist.

Whatever you decide, put the fruit and the water into a pan, after you've cut up bigger pieces of fruit, like apricots, and let it come to a boil.  Simmer it for ten minutes.  Now, add your "stuff," whatever  it is.  In some cases, it may include some more sugar.  You might want cinnamon.  You're going to taste as you go along. You want a filling that tastes VERY strong, because it is going to lose something in baking, so kick it up.  Acids, spices, anything that brings things forward.

Now, we're ready to cook.  For this, you can use a metal pan.  Preheat your oven to 350, and now, take the larger amount of crumbs, and press it into a 9x13 pan as evenly as you can.  This won't take long.  Put it into the oven, and bake it for sixteen minutes.  An odd timing, but it works.  Bring it out (don't forget to protect your hands,  ) and  spread out the filling as best as  you can.  You may need to add some more liquid, and if you do, act judiciously.  Spread it as well as you can, because it will spread a bit more (incidentally, if you don't have dried fruit, you can substitute a cup of a very well flavored jam or preserve).  Now take the two cups of crust you reserved, sprinkle it over the top, and bake the whole thing for 30 minutes.

If you used figs, or raisins, you will get something akin to those big fruit bars we ate as kids (or, that people of Annalena's generation ate as kids).  Apricots and cherries may remind you of the fruit bars that you buy, pretending they are healthy.  Use what you got.  Make some magic.

But please make these.  Don't pretend they're healthy.  They're not.  They have a lot of calories, and a lot of fat in them, but you know what... sometimes, you have to just ... not... care.   Annalena doesn't.