I'm a big fan of apricots, especially when combined with almonds. So Tarek Malouf's recipe for "Apricot and Almond Cookies" from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days looked like it would be right up my alley.
This is a straightforward recipe. You cream butter with sugar and light brown sugar; add an egg and vanilla; mix in the sifted dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda); and then stir in ground almonds and chopped dried apricots. The recipe instructs you to roll two tablespoons of dough into a ball for each cookie and sprinkle them with sliced almonds before baking. I used a #30 scoop (which is roughly two tablespoons) to portion out the dough and got 17 cookies from a batch -- greater than the specified yield of 10-12 cookies. While the recipe warns that you should space the cookies three inches apart because they spread, my first pan of cookies didn't spread much and I ended up with puffy, cakey domes. For subsequent pans of cookies I flattened out the dough as much as possible before baking.
The flattened cookies looked much nicer, but they were still on the cakey side. I really liked the cinnamon flavor, which was surprisingly prominent. I also liked the interesting textures of the sliced almonds and chewy apricot chunks. But overall I thought the cookies were just okay; to me, cakey is the absolute worst texture for a cookie. I am fine with crisp, crunchy, or chewy -- but cakey just ruins it for me.
I took the cookies to work the next day and was surprised when co-workers complimented them; one even asked for the recipe. That evening Tom and I each had a cookie after dinner and they tasted much better compared to the fresh-from-the-oven version. The cookies were less cakey and had a more developed flavor. On day three they were even better.
Still, I'm ambivalent about these cookies and don't think I'll make them again. For a dried apricot drop cookie, my favorite is still this oatmeal cookie by Tom Douglas.
Recipe: "Apricot and Almond Cookies" from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days by Tarek Malouf.
Previous Posts:
This is a straightforward recipe. You cream butter with sugar and light brown sugar; add an egg and vanilla; mix in the sifted dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda); and then stir in ground almonds and chopped dried apricots. The recipe instructs you to roll two tablespoons of dough into a ball for each cookie and sprinkle them with sliced almonds before baking. I used a #30 scoop (which is roughly two tablespoons) to portion out the dough and got 17 cookies from a batch -- greater than the specified yield of 10-12 cookies. While the recipe warns that you should space the cookies three inches apart because they spread, my first pan of cookies didn't spread much and I ended up with puffy, cakey domes. For subsequent pans of cookies I flattened out the dough as much as possible before baking.
I took the cookies to work the next day and was surprised when co-workers complimented them; one even asked for the recipe. That evening Tom and I each had a cookie after dinner and they tasted much better compared to the fresh-from-the-oven version. The cookies were less cakey and had a more developed flavor. On day three they were even better.
Still, I'm ambivalent about these cookies and don't think I'll make them again. For a dried apricot drop cookie, my favorite is still this oatmeal cookie by Tom Douglas.
Recipe: "Apricot and Almond Cookies" from The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days by Tarek Malouf.
Previous Posts:
- "A Fruitful Combination: Chocolate and Apricot Cookies," December 5, 2013.
- "The Fruit Blends In but the Cookie Stands Out: Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies," August 31, 2013.
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