COCONUT APRICOT BARS.

Something a little different, a real show stopper on a plate and delicious. There are 3 steps to the preparation. Ingredients....Filling... 250 gm of dried apricots, 1 cup of cold black tea, 2 tbs of honey, 1/2 cup of soft brown sugar, 1 and 1/2 tbvs of butter/ marg, 1 egg, lightly beaten. Base....250 gm of softened marg/ butter,1 cup of castor sugar, 4 eggs, lightly beaten, 150 ml of milk, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 3 cups of self raing flour, 2 tbs of cocoa, 1 tbs of milk, 2 tbs of desiccated coconut. Topping......1 and 1/2 cups of rice bubbles, 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut, 30 gm of copha, 2 tbs of honey. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 30cm x 20cm lamington pan First prepare the filling by soaking the apricots in the cold tea for 1 hour, then gently simmer for about 15 minutes or until softened. Stir in the honey, sugar and marg / butter. When sugar has dissolved, simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Puree until smooth, cool then stir in the egg. Now for the base...cream the marg / butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, adding the remaining base ingredients, stirring well after each addition. Transfer the batter to the prepared lamington pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. To prepare the topping, combine the rice bubbles, desiccated coconut, warmed copha and honey. Spread the cake with the apricot puree and cover with the combined topping ingredients. Return the tray to the oven and cook a further 15 minutes. Cool in the pan then slice into bars to serve.