dried apricots Archives - Alida's Kitchen

January 3, 2013 ·

lighter dried apricot white chocolate chip scones

Happy New Year! For a special New Year’s Day breakfast, I made these Apriot White Chocolate Scones. I always forget how quick and easy scones are to make, plus they are much more economical to make at home than to buy them from a local coffee shop. Tastier too! The slight tartness of the dried apricots and the sweetness of the white chocolate chips are such a wonderful complement. I made several changes to the original recipes to lighten it up a bit: used fat free evaporated milk instead of half and half, used light butter and also replaced some flour with whole wheat pastry flour. The result was a delicious scone with a nice, moist texture (no dry scones here!).

Apricot White Chocolate Scones

Yields: 8 scones

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅓ cup cold butter, cut in pieces (I used light butter)
⅓ cup chopped dried apricots
⅓ cup white chocolate baking chips
1 egg
⅓ cup fat free evaporated milk
melted white chocolate and additional chopped apricots, for topping (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
In a food processor, pulse flours, sugar and baking powder until combined.
Add butter to food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. Pour mixture into a medium bowl.
Stir apricots and white chocolate chips into flour mixture. Stir in egg and gradually add evaporated milk until dough forms a ball (Note: You may need slightly less than ⅓ cup). Knead dough a few times while in bowl.
Pat or roll dough into 8-inch round on prepared cookie sheet. Cut into 8 wedges (a pizza cutter works well) but DO NOT separate.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit on pan for 5 minutes and then separate wedges (Note: I used a serated knife to ensure clean cuts). Let cool completely.
Optional set: Drizzle melted white chocolate and sprinkle with chopped dried apricots, if desired.

Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker

Radicchio, Spinach, Apricot Salad with Goat Cheese

June 17, 2011 ·

My husband and I are creatures of habit. We have a salad with dinner (almost) every night. It’s usually spinach or mixed greens and tomatoes with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds. It’s simple. It’s tasty. It’s routine.

So when I had leftover goat cheese from the Tomato and Leek Frittata with Goat Cheese, I wanted to shake our routine up a bit. Radicchio, Spinach, Apricot Salad with Goat Cheese became a welcome change from our usual salad. The creamy goat cheese with the bitter radicchio with the sweet apricots is a combination that is simply a-ma-zing!

Since I had mixed greens on hand, I decided to use that in place of the spinach. This salad is equally delicious using just spinach. I reduced the amount of the oil in the vinaigrette, which is nice and light and just pulls everything together. Soaking the apricots is an excellent method to plump up the fruit into soft juicy bursts of sweetness.

Have a Happy Father’s Day weekend!

Radicchio, Spinach, Apricot Salad with Goat Cheese

Yields 4 servings

1/2 cup dried apricots

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

coarse salt and pepper

1 head radicchio, halved, cored and roughly torn

5 ounces fresh spinach or mixed greens

2 ounces soft crumbled goat cheese

Place apricots in a small bowl and cover with boiling water; let stand for about 5 minutes. Drain and pat try with paper towels. Cut into small pieces, if desired.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.
Add spinach and radicchio to bowl with vinaigrette and toss to combine. Add apricots. Serve topped with crumbled goat cheese.

Adapted from Everyday Food (November, 2007)