Michelle Darmody: Baking with apricots

APRICOTS have a luscious perfumed smell that can evoke the far away warm climates of their origin.

They bring to mind long, hot, dry days in a dusty orchard. I usually use apricots to make jam which stores that summery taste for the year ahead. A spread of golden apricots on hot buttered toast is wonderful at any time of year.

In the three recipes that follow I used apricots in different ways. The first is in a rich caramel tarte tatin.