no bake apricot almond bites
The last few months, I have become an admirer of the Washington Post Food Section and the clever and humorous foodies that write it. Last week, they published a column on baking holiday cookies – one of my favorite things. They included a recipe for “no bake white chocolate apricot almond bites” which intrigued me. Now, white chocolate is really not my thing. But, I stepped into the kitchen to see if I could use the recipe as a base and take it in a slightly different direction. Their recipe called for confectioners sugar but I opted instead for coconut sugar: it has a very low glycemic index (35 vs. agave nectar’s 32). It is made from (the sap of) coconut flowers and looks a lot like (raw) turbinado sugar. If you don’t have any, can’t find any or just want to make these now (!) then I would imagine you could substitute with raw sugar. Raw sugar is sweeter so you will most likely want to use less than one 1/2 cup. (I did not test the recipe with an alternative to coconut sugar so bear that in mind, please). For the rum, I used Bacardi brand because it is listed on the celiac.com website as a certified gluten free alcohol. Side note: The first day, these cookies are a delicious mouthful of zip and zest, but the flavor does mellow slightly on day 2 and 3.
1 cup almonds, regular or blanched
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup organic dried apricots (unsulphured)
1 cup mejool dates – soaked (see below)
2 tblsps light rum (may substitute freshly squeezed orange juice)
1 tblsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tblsp freshly grated orange zest, minced (1 large orange)
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla
- Put 1 cup of dates in a glass bowl. Pour boiling water over the dates, set aside and let soak for 10 minutes. After soaking, drain, discard liquid and remove pits.
- In a small bowl, combine the rum, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, combine the almonds in the bowl of a food processor or chef’s blender; process until the almonds are finely ground. Not too much or you’ll have almond butter. Add the sugar and cornstarch and pulse a few times until everything is well mixed.
- Add the apricots and pulse until the fruit is finely chopped. Add dates and pulse until they too are finely chopped.
- Add the rum/orange liquid to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is just blended.
- Lightly rub some grapeseed oil or other flavorless oil on your hands. Using a rolling motion with your hands, form 18-20 one-half-inch balls. You can place directly in a container that is large enough for the balls to fit in a single layer. Or you can put them in paper mini-cupcake liners inside the container. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.
- Makes 18-20 cookies.
Tags: raw apricot almond cookies, washington post gluten free holiday cookies
