Ah-mazing Toffee Apricot Oatmeal Cookies
Posted on one of my favorite blogs, Ipso Fatto, are a couple of sweets she tried from Food & Wine’s article, The Bake Sale Returns to Its Political Roots. In the current climate, this is right up my alley, political activism through food. A win-win. Her photos and reviews of goodies from the article had me running to my kitchen to get busy and bake.
First up were these fabulous cookies from State Bird Provision in San Francisco. I guarantee they will be a hit at any bake sale or socially distanced gathering. The cookies have a crispy edge, are slightly chewy in the middle, and are a flavor and texture party in your mouth. The apricots provide tartness to balance out the sweetness of the milk chocolate and toffee. The toffee not only adds to the buttery flavor but a wonderful crunch. So good. It’s been a while since a cookie has really wowed me. It was worth the wait.
One of my favorite farmers market stops is Sunblest Orchards. Their beautiful plums and peaches are now distant summer memories, but in their place are jeweled tone dried fruits and a variety of delicious preserves and sauces. I picked up dried apricots, peaches, and their Apricot Habanero Ketchup, so yummy it has replaced my regular ketchup at home. This past weekend they also had persimmons, fresh and dried-yum. Autumn definitely has an upside. Their apricots were perfect in these cookies.
Initially, I was happy that this recipe only makes half a batch of cookies. But they disappeared so fast I wished I had doubled it!
A couple of swap-a-roos
I didn’t have toffee bits but I did have SKOR bars so I chopped up the bars and used a smidge less milk chocolate in the cookies, NBD. A stash of milk chocolate chips was in the pantry so taking the path of least resistance, I subbed them for chopping chocolate. A good trade-off. The dough can be baked immediately but I like to chill the dough. The flavors have a chance to develop (especially the butter flavor) if the dough rests awhile and the cookies tend not to spread as much. Personal preference. I baked the cookies for about 16 minutes (chilled dough) rotating them in the middle of the baking time. They will brown pretty quickly so start checking at 13 minutes.
I really enjoyed these cookies and intend to make them again soon. Hope you’ll try them too. Next…from the same article, a luscious Almond Plum Cake before plums are done for the season.
Toffee-Apricot Oat Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 4 ounces, softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour about 4 1/4 ounces
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2/3 cup uncooked old-fashioned regular rolled oats about 2 ounces
- 1/2 cup chopped milk chocolate feelin' lazy ? Use chips
- 1/3 cup finely chopped toffee can substitute chopped Heath or Skor candy bars
- 1/3 cup dried apricots about 2 ounces, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F with oven racks in top third and lower third of oven.
- Combine butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium speed until light and creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg, salt and vanilla, beat until combined.
- Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. With mixer running on low speed, gradually add flour mixture beating until just combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in oats, chocolate, toffee, and apricots. You can use the dough immediately or cover with plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, using a 1 3/4-inch scoop, arrange balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons each) onto baking sheet, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven until cookies are lightly browned, 12 to 16 minutes, rotating pan after 8 minutes. To create cracks in cookies, after rotating pan, rap pan on the oven rack. This causes the cookie to deflate and create ridges on the cookie. Optional.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.