Sunday, June 17, 2012

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate and Apricots


Frequently after a cookie post here on Liv Life I will get an email, Facebook comment or even an actual phone call saying, "I sure wish I had one of those this afternoon!".  Dad enjoys his sweets.  But unlike anyone else I know, he has amazing willpower.  He is happy with just one cookie.  Sometimes even just a half.

While I'm lucky have have him and Mom live only some 20 minutes away, that twenty minutes is sometimes just far enough to make cookie sharing difficult as I make my daily driving rounds some 20 minutes the other direction.  Yesterday, however, we planned ahead, and celebrating with an early Father's Day dinner I had a fresh batch of Martha Stewart's sweet yet slightly tart Apricot/White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies ready and waiting.

Already filled with heart healthy oatmeal, we swapped a little of the all-purpose flour with a dose of fiber-rich spelt flour, and even added a tablespoon or two of flax meal.  And as if that is not enough, I had just a couple of tablespoons of flaked coconut left if my jar, so we tossed that into the mix to bring a slight tropical flavor to the package.

Admitted cookie dough lover's, Liv and I deem it necessary to try every dough we make (take caution as cookie dough does contain raw eggs), and I have to say that Martha hit this cookie dough out of the park.  Sweet, oaty and utterly irresistible, I think I liked the dough ever so slightly more than the cookie, however the cookie was crowned positively enchanting as Liv and I taste tested warm and cold versions... for review purposes, of course.

Dad, these beauties are for you!!  Thanks for being the best dad ever, and now that school is out and I'm not driving so much, let's make that 20 minutes not so far.

Happy Father's Day!
 XOXO


Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate and Apricots

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup spelt flour (optional - may substitute 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 Tbs ground flax meal
2-3 Tbs flaked coconut
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
7 ounces dried apricots, preferably California, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

In a medium bowl combine the flours, oatmeal, flax, flaked coconut and baking soda.  Give it a quick whisk to combine and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the softened butter and cream with the sugars.  Add the salt, vanilla and eggs and continue mixing just until combined.  Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and pour in the chopped chocolate and chopped apricots.  With a wooden spoon gently stir the chocolate and apricots until incorporated.  Place cookie dough in the fridge and chill for about thirty minutes.

As you chill the dough, preheat the oven to 350º F and prepare your baking sheets.  (We use baking sheets lined with silicone mats).

After thirty minutes, remove dough from the refrigerator and spacing two inches apart, drop by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets.  Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are golden brown on the edges yet still soft in the centers.  Martha recommends 14-16 minutes, however my oven produced very brown edges by the 11 minute mark.  Now perhaps it is the ancient appliance I'm using that heats extraordinarily unevenly, but I recommend checking your cookies at the 10 minute point and adjusting your cooking time as needed.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool and feel free to test warm!  Liv preferred the warm cookie and even though she had turned her nose up at the addition of the apricots, she proclaimed the cookies one of the best ever.  High praise from my cookie critic.

Love you Dad!!!  (circa 1966)

18 comments:

  1. Love apricots in cookies...these look heavenly combined with white chocolates.

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  2. I think oatmeal cookies are one of my favorite and these sound terrific with the added goodies.

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  3. These sound wonderful! When I was a kid, my favorite candy was one from Fanny May Candy that was an apricot cream covered in white chocolate. They stopped making it years back and I am still a major fan of the flavor combo so I just KNOW I'll be making these.

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  4. Sweet! In more ways than one. GREG

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  5. These sound and look yummy. I pinned the link and will be making these cookies soon. Thanks!

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  6. These sound delicious! My Mom would love them as white chocolate and oatmeal cookies are her favorite. Such a heavenly combination with the apricots!

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  7. I absolutely can't wait to try these! I love the combination of oats and apricots and white chocolate. I do need your Dad's willpower though, especially because like you say - it's swimsuit season!! Thanks for the recipe :)

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  8. Yum! I could seriously get into these! They sound delicious!

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  9. Love the apricot and white chocolate combination! A beautiful cookie to celebrate Father's Day, you are so lucky to have him live so close by :)

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  10. Mmmm apricot and white chocolate are best friends no doubt :D

    Cheers
    CCU

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  11. I love this recipe too! When it popped into my inbox as Martha's Cookie of the Day not too long ago it reminded me that I haven't made it in so long. You're right, this one's batter is to die for :)
    PS you should check out my blog this week bc I'm giving away a copy of The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook! http://www.treatswithatwist.com/2012/06/giveaway-and-chocolate-chip-cookie.html

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  12. Any dad would love these. I am not a big raisin fan so I am excited about the apricots in this.

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  13. Wow what a wonderful combination of flavors in this cookie! They sound divine.

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  14. Haha well I'm lucky enough to have dad still in the house... he's really good about just eating 1 cookie too, its my mom and I that finish off the batch :) These white chocolate apricot cookies sound amazing, I love the flavor combo!

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  15. Now see, I was on a series of planes all day Father's Day so I missed this post. If not specifically directed towards your dad, I'd have figured those cookies were especially for me. I love every single thing in these.

    I am so much making them.

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  16. I pinned this recipe a while back and finally took time to make them today. They ARE SO GOOD! I wish I would have made them when I found your recipe!
    Thanks for the post.

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