I have very fond memories of my grandfather’s apricot tree and how, every summer, he would gather as many ripe apricots (and some not so ripe) as he could carry in the folds of his flannel shirt and bring his haul inside. How he would hold one up proudly and consume it within seconds, leaving only a pulpy stone behind.

I am very fond of apricots.

So here are several apricot-related dishes I’ve made in celebration of summer.

This is an apricot bread pudding based on a recipe from the New York Times, for which you can probably substitute most any fruit and get something amazingly delicious. I would recommend adding a cup of light brown sugar to the recipe, especially if the fruit you have to work with is not going to be macerated or isn’t very sweet. I liked this recipe because instead of the usual bread pudding method of pouring some egg cream mixture over stale pieces of bread, you mash the bread and cream together into mushy batter and then bake it all up.

This almond apricot tart is from Martha Stewart. I am not sure what kind of apricots Martha’s recipe testers used, but the ones I had were GINORMOUS and couldn’t be used after simply being halved as the recipe suggests. Thus, I sliced my apricots thin and formed a sort of rose pattern on top of the tart. Much better. I think making a ginger snap crust for this recipe would also be amazing.