Love and Olive Oil

Fresh Apricot and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fresh Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

Never before in my life have I been so excited about fruit. The kind of excitement that borders on obsession, as in, there is fruit invading my dreams and I can’t get the thought of it out of my head. The kind of excitement one usually reserves for, say, getting a new kitten. Except that kitten is actually an apricot.

Last week we took a trip to visit the inlaws in Colorado (didn’t even know we were gone, eh? Ahh, the beauty of scheduled posts!) Don’t ask me why, but it seems like we always chose to visit Colorado in the winter. In the snow. Yuck. But this year, our schedule just happened to work itself out, and we planned on a lovely July visit.

Miles of Orchards in Palisade

Colorado is beautiful in July. But what was even more beautiful than the scenery were the fruit trees. Maybe I never noticed them before because we always visited in the winter, but as soon as I saw the trees overflowing with bright orange apricots, I knew I had to bring some home.

So I did. About 7 pounds of them. Smuggled in my airline luggage. I had to seriously repack my stuff to do it, sneaking as many shoes and shirts into Taylor’s bag as I could, but I managed to fit three large containers of apricots in there. And I swapped my purse for a cooler bag and carried a bagful of sour cherries on the plane with me too (I was totally ready for a smack down if someone had tried to take them from me at airport security). Yes, I’m a bonafide fruit smuggler.

I did it all for the fruit.

Fresh Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

It was so totally worth it. If only for these cookies. They were so good, in fact, that I’m planning to make another batch tomorrow and freeze the dough, in an attempt to make them last even after the apricots are gone.

If you can’t get a hold of your own contraband fruit, you could definitely substitute dried apricots here. Even better, try soaking and re-hydrating the apricots in some sort of tasty liquor (amaretto? bourbon?) prior to adding them to the batter. Mmm, tasty!

Fresh Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies. Recipe from Cakespy.

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Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground espresso powder or instant coffee
10 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup finely diced fresh apricots, or 3/4 cup diced dried apricots
8 ounces butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso in a medium bowl. Mix with a whisk until evenly distributed. Add chocolate chips and apricot bits and mix well. Set aside.

Combine the butter and sugars in a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and pale in color. Add 1 egg at a time, mixing until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then add the vanilla. Continue mixing until butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla are all incorporated (about 1 minute). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions. Mix on low speed for no more than 1 minute. Remove bowl from mixture and do a final mix with a rubber spatula. Cover and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop dough with a medium-sized ice cream scoop to form 1-inch balls. Leave at least an inch and a half around each cookie to allow for some spreading. Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, turning about halfway to ensure even baking. Cookies should be golden at the edges but soft in the middle.

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31 Comments

  1. Loathe coffee and/or expresso. Also not in possession of white choc chips, so because of probably a hundred lbs (thankfully almost all preserved one way or other) of fresh apricots, going to make these. I love apricots, might make with the coffee for friends, maybe it pops out the flavor? Willing to try. Thanks for the ideas.

  2. These are delicious. I accidentally made a variant that was also really good – didn’t realize until the last step that I had no vanilla extract and so substituted with almond extract and it’s delicious that way, too! So glad to have something to do with my farm share apricots!

  3. AMAZING! Period.

  4. My husband would go nuts over these! I would enjoy them too but he’s crazy about apricots. I’ve never come across a cookie like this before. I might have to try it sometime. :)

  5. I made these last weekend and they were great! Thanks for the recipe!

  6. i’ve just discovered your website and i am enjoying reading all of your recipes and adventures! i want to try making these cookies this week, but i must admit i am not much of a baker.

    a few questions:
    i don’t have a stand mixer. will there be any difference to the process if i use a hand mixer? (the one i have only has one attachment instead of the two that typical hand mixers have–i typically use it for mashed potatoes and soups).

    if i can’t fit all of the cookies onto the baking sheets that i have at once, will it adversely effect the recipe to bake in two batches?

    thanks in advance! i can’t wait to try these!!

    • A hand mixer will work just as well. You may have to mix it a tad longer, but it shouldn’t affect the cookies at all. Heck, you could mix it by hand if your arm muscles could take it!

      And yes, you can definitely bake these in batches! I bake one pan at a time, and kept my dough in the fridge between batches, as you don’t want it getting to warm.

  7. I made these cookies!! I have to say they were amazing! I loved them, they have just become my favorite cookies ever!!!!! :) I’ll post my pics in my blog soon!.. I served them with vanilla ice cream and .. uffff! delicious!

  8. The fresh apricot and white chocolate is such and amazing flavour combination!

  9. I have to tell you i just baked these cookies and they are FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! wow best cookie recipe I’ve ever tried!!! Thanks for sharing I LOVED IT!

  10. What a beautiful pairing of cookies and apricots – love the colours! I don’t eat a lot of apricots, but I’ll be sure to buy some to make these cookies before the season ends. Like tomorrow!

  11. Wow! Chocolate chips with fresh apricots. What a great idea. Cant wait to give these a try. Thanks Christine

  12. I raise Blenheim apricots in Hollister, CA. Blenheims are the best apricots, but they do not ship well. We used to be the center of the dried apricot industry, but this area cannot compete with the cheap Turkish cots (flavorless, but they don’t have to pay their workers much!). I am going to make this recipe TODAY! Can’t wait. Another thing I do with the fresh cots is make pasta: Substitute an apricot for an egg and adjust moistness with more flour or olive oil as needed. Beautiful color, great flavor. Celebrate apricots!

  13. Yes – I know Palisade! I knew the landscape in the pic of the area you posted looked familiar! We lived in Montrose – an hour South of Grand Junction. Sigh…truly paradise and I miss it so!

  14. These look great! I wonder if they would work as well with fresh cherries? Going to have to try this out over the weekend!

    • I think cherries would be delicious! Worried they might bake funny, though, since they are so juicy? If you try it, be sure to let me know how it turns out!

  15. I made the NY Time Chocolate chip cookies with dried apricots, pistachios, and white chocolate. talk about amazing! I love the idea of fresh apricots too!

  16. Those cookies look delicious. I cannot wait to try them. They are officially bookmarked!

  17. I love summer apricots and I can’t wait to make these cookies!

  18. I’ve totally been on a fruit kick lately too and I was never into fruit before! Now I’m finding all these amazing ways to cook and bake with them even in savory dishes! Fresh apricots in cookies sound so different and I totally wanna try it!

  19. Oooh, fresh apricots in a cookie? Sounds like a perfect summer treat.

  20. Yummy looking cookies! Just discovered your fantastic blog not long ago when needing a recipe for mini chocolate cheesecakes (outstanding recipe!), and now I check in all the time! I’m curious as to what part of CO you were visiting. I know Western CO – where we moved from to TN – grows amazing fruit, but I never tried their apricots. I’m going to try these!

    • These apricots came from Palisade, just outside of Grand Junction. Seriously the best fruit there. Peaches weren’t quite ripe yet, but I’m sure those are amazing too. :)

  21. These look so good!!! One of my favorite things in the whole world in apricots.
    Liza
    http://Www.styleblueprint.com

  22. Those are BEAUTIFUL cookies! ::printing recipe::

    Mary xo
    Delightful Bitefuls

  23. I had the privilege of getting to taste these and they are heaven! The apricot really bursts in your mouth and is perfect with the white chocolate.

  24. I love Colorado, too. It’s so beautiful. A good friend of mine lives halfway between Denver and Boulder and I visit her every chance I get. That recipe looks fantastic. I think I need to make it as soon as possible!

  25. What a great use of apricots. Strangely enough, I had never tried a fresh apricot until this past weekend. It just wasn’t a fruit I grew up with — other than the shriveled up dried ones, that is. I ended up making scones with them and they were delicious. I may put the rest of them to use with this cookie recipe.

  26. What a unique and inspiring combination of flavors. Love making cookies and this is a must try! Love Colorado – absolutely beautiful there. Enjoy your week.

  27. Amazing combo! These were SO delicious, and I’m glad I got to taste one!

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