stuffed apricots

these delicious little mouthfuls always hit the spot as a light dessert or finger food - they might sound fiddly and uninspiring but they are worth the effort - based on a turkish recipe I found in the Guardian years ago they can be made as healthy or naughty as you like by using low or high fat dairy produce

preparation takes a bit of forward planning - as these keep for several days in the fridge they can be made in advance, so they are good for an occasion when you have a lot of other stuff to prepare in a short time -  i've tried to give detailed instructions for less confident cooks so this looks a bit lengthy, but experienced cooks will be able to skip through a lot - there are some suggestions for short cuts in 'variations' at the end 

ingredients

• 200 g dried apricots
• half a 500g pot strained yoghurt (see separate recipe) 
• 1 heaped tbsp ground almonds
• sugar or honey or apricot syrup (see below)
• less than 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1-2 tsp rosewater or orange flower water (optional)

method

stage 1 (at least I day before – 2 days before is better))

• tip the dried apricots into a large pan and cover with water, you can add a couple of cardamom pods and a bit of cinnamon bark if you have some – leave to soak for at least 6 hours

• start making the strained yoghurt, you will need it to be as thick as cream cheese, like Philadelphia if possible

stage 2 (on the day – 1 day before is better)

• bring the apricots and water to the boil and simmer until soft – this varies but probably at least 30 mins, if you have a pressure cooker you can do this much more quickly
• allow the apricots to cool then strain off the liquid – keep the liquid and put the apricots to drain over it – the liquid makes a delicious syrup to serve with the apricots (see below)
• when the apricots are cool enough to handle make sure they are all split open enough so that the filling can be spooned in easily, half open is ideal, you will be able to do this with a finger or thumb – this will also help them to drain a bit better

stage 3 (on the day – 1 day before is better)

• add the ground almonds, 1tsp sugar/honey and a little cardamom and rosewater to the strained yogurt, mix well and taste – add more sugar,cardamom and rosewater a little at a time until it tastes good to you – cardamom and rosewater are quite strong flavourings, a little goes a long way, also the cardamom flavour will get stronger with time in the mixture
• the mixture needs to be thick enough to hold it's shape

stage 4 (on the day – 1 day before is better)

• stuff the cold apricots with about 1/2 a teaspoon of the mixture – you can split the apricots into 2 halves and sandwich them back together if stuffing them is too fiddly or messy
• arrange them on a flat dish – store in the fridge and serve at room temperature with a drizzle of the syrup, if you make it

apricot syrup (optional extra) – this is simple . . . . really

• put the drained off apricot liquid in a pan, simmer it gently until it has reduced to 1/4 of it's original volume or until it is thick and really sweet – depending on how much liquid you have and how concentrated it is to start with this takes time and patience, no need to stand over it but stir and check it regularly - i keep a timer on me, set to go off every 5-10 minutes because i often forget things left on the cooker! if it's too thick you can always add a little water later
• when cool strain it into a jug or over the stuffed apricots – or keep it in a jar in the fridge and use it to:                               

                                add to cereals/porridge instead of sugar
                                flavour yoghurt, with any leftover bits of apricots which didn't get stuffed

                                pour over ice-cream

                               glaze fruit tarts etc or adding to jam for filling sponges

                               add to icing sugar for cup cake frosting

                               . . . . ?

variations

• fresh apricots tend to be expensive and unreliably ripe (in the UK) but try them if they are available and you feel like it
• tinned apricots could work
• 'ready-to-eat' apricots won't need soaking and cooking, but they will be a bit chewier
• experiment with curd cheese, ricotta, clotted cream, extra thick double cream, mascarpone or a mixture of what you have handy – these shouldn't need straining first
• if you don't have ground cardamom try cinnamon or garam masala 
• for a spoon-able pudding, split the apricots into halves or quarters and layer them with the filling mixture in small individual dishes, this would work with tinned apricots
• try  peach halves (tinned, fresh or lightly poached) topped with the filling sprinkled with flaked almonds or crushed amaretti 
• any leftover filling can be eaten as it is, with other fruit or spread on bread, toast, cake.....etc