I kept returning to it, even as the other goodies at Bedner’s caught my eye, the beaming bok choy, misshapen heirloom tomatoes, fresh potato gnocchi, all brimming with possibilities and familiarity. Yet three times I came back to look at the curious packets of dried apricot paste until finally I grabbed two and stuffed them in my cart.

The ingredients were simple: apricots, sugar, olive oil and glucose.

Back home, Google taught me that during Ramadan, it’s used in a drink that, when combined with boiling water and allowed to sit overnight turns sweet and delicious. A visit to all my favorite recipe sites yielded few results that called for this paste as a raw ingredient, and soon I realized I had purchased what seemed to be a hearty fruit leather.

Still, even though I couldn’t find many recipes that called for it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have fun with it!

The first night, I stuffed it into chicken breasts and made a dish similar to a chicken tagine, dry rubbing the chicken in cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, pepper, paprika, cumin; then sautéing the chicken, adding onion and garlic and cooking it all in chicken stock (I kept stuffing the apricot paste back in) until it was tender.

I took a bit more apricot paste and boiled it with water, honey and a cinnamon stick and poured it over the chicken with some toasted almonds, all served over quinoa.

The results were delicious — but I was just getting started.

As an avid baker, I knew the paste would be suited for baking. I had in mind kolaches, popular Czech pastries, but then I wondered if this paste could be used to replace dried apricots in a bar or cookie recipe.

Many recipes use dried apricots, but they need a fair amount of care — boiling, soaking, chopping. I wondered if my dried apricot paste could subbed in, possibly saving some time.

Ultimately, I chose a bar recipe with a shortbread base (easier than pie!) I found on Epicurious.com. I simply placed the apricot paste over the slightly cooled shortbread, then topped it with the rest of the mixture before popping it back into the oven.

Delicious? Absolutely.

And, to boot, these apricot bars are incredibly simple to make, so ideal to bake with the kiddies, your kidlike friends (or when watching your distracting, no-judgment-here television).

The bars are chewy, infused with a considerable amount of apricot flavor and topped with a pleasing caramel crumb topping, all on a delicate shortbread base.

The only downside: they’re messy, crumbly, sticky, hard to cut bars — so you can forget about gifting them or serving to company (which just means more for your family and your belly).

JOANNE’S APRICOT BARS

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.com, originally published in Bon Appetit, December 2004.

Makes 18 bars

For the shortbread layer:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For the apricot layer:

8 X 8-inch layer of dried apricot paste, cut to size with a pizza cutter (see KITCHEN NOTES)

For the topping:

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Powdered sugar

Make the shortbread layer:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spray 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray — I recommend lining with parchment paper and spraying parchment paper with nonstick spray

Blend flour, sugar, and salt in food processor.

Add butter; using on/off turns, process until coarse meal forms.

Press crumbs firmly onto bottom of dish.

Bake until center is golden, about 25 minutes.

Maintain oven temperature.

Slightly cool the shortbread, then place layer of dried apricot paste over the shortbread.

Make Topping:

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into small bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs in large bowl.

Add brown sugar and vanilla; beat until thick.

Stir in flour mixture, then nuts and apricots.

Spread over apricot paste.

Bake cookie until puffed, dark brown, and toothpick inserted into topping comes out with small moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes.

Cool in dish.

Cut cookie into 6 strips, then crosswise into thirds.

Transfer to waxed paper.

Sift powdered sugar over bars.