I am sorry you had trouble with the recipe! Hope it will make a good spread/sauce for French Toast or ice cream, or a base for a good chutney.

Apricots are the trickiest to glace and here are my suggestions:

Use slightly underripe apricots, they are firmer.
Pop or take the pit out from the top or bottom without splitting the apricot in half. The intact skin helps keep the apricot whole.
Use the slow method.
If you do try the fast method, boil the syrup for about half the time before you put in the fruit.

I had a great aunt in Texas who made phenomenal fig preserves, and here is how she did id:
Grew her own figs, picked when just ripe- overripe won't work.
Peeled them (Yep, those were the daYS WHEN A WOMAN HAD "HELP IN THE KITCHEN". aND they DID THE ACTUAL PEELING.)
Placed ttwo cups, not packed, figs in a small, deep pan with two cups of sugar.
Cooked over low heat, stirring rarely and very gently, until the sugar was completely melted, and the figs were completely translucent and saturated.
Put then up in sterilized 1 cup Mason jars.
One amber fig was the morning glory of toast!

Cooking very slowly in very small amounts was the secret, otherwise, you get jam. You can also do this with strawberries.