For the love of dried apricots

 Although a fresh, ripe apricot is one of my favorite things to bite into, I never get too excited about their dried counterpart.  On their own, they don’t really do anything for me. Tucked into a scone, dipped in dark chocolate, or hidden in trail mix, I wouldn’t necessarily avoid them, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to introduce them to my taste buds, either.Unfortunately, apricot season is very brief.  Over here, the fruit is only soft,  vibrantly flavored, and juicy enough to guarantee messy eating for a brief spell towards the end of summer.  Apparently the trees are very sensitive and, according to Wikipedia :  ”The fact that apricot season is very short has given rise to the very common Egyptian Arabic expression “filmishmish” (“in apricot [season]“), generally uttered as a riposte to an unlikely prediction, or as a rash promise to fulfill a request.”  You know, like, sure, I’ll stop eating these! In apricot season! 

 When I read this recipe, I was immediately interested in the possibility of soaking a little life into the wrinkly dried creature as I patiently wait for the real deal to come into season.  The idea of infusing them with the delicate flavor or orange blossom and stuffing them with cream had me sold. 

 This is a Turkish recipe, and is relatively simple to prepare.  You poach the apricots in a simple syrup with orange blossom water, let them cool, and then tuck little spoonfuls of Kaymak, a middle eastern clotted cream, into their bellies.  My only complaint is that the book has no recipe for Kaymak, and the ones I found online involved simmering buffalo milk for upwards of eight hours.  I decided to make a regular clotted cream, and chose a recipe that used whipping cream and sour cream.  The cream itself turned out tasty, but if you have a preferred way of clotting your cream, by all means, clot that way.  I also have no idea if this substitution in creams made the flavors less authentic. 

 Either way, this dessert is really a nice way to make a dried fruit shine.  Sweet and very fruity, explosively juicy and exotically perfumed, it would make a nice light finish to a meal, or a great snack. 

 Kaymakli Kayisi – Apricots filled with clotted cream
Adapted from The Middle Easter Kitchen, by Ghillie Basan
(She says it serves 6.  What is this? A recipe for ants? Two of us ate these within a few hours. 

 225g dried apricots, soaked at least 6 hours or overnight in about 2 cups of water
175g sugar
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
clotted cream (recipe follows) 

 fresh mint leaves, for serving (optional) 

 Drain the apricots, reserving the soaking water.  Put the water into a heavy-bottomed pan with the sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.  Lower the temperature to let the water simmer, and add the apricots and orange blossom water. 

 Poach the apricots for about twenty minutes, then take them off the heat and let them cool in the water.  Drain the apricots, but hang on to the liquid! * 

 When the apricots are cool, gently open them, tuck in a small spoonful of clotted cream, and fold them back up again.  If you like, place them on a plate covered with fresh mint leaves.   I find the flavors contrast really nicely. You can also spoon a bit of the poaching liquid onto the apricots for a little extra juicy- and sweet-ness. 

 to make the clotted cream:
Whip 1/2 cup of whipping cream with 1 tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract until it forms very stiff peaks.  Mix in about 1/3 cup sour cream.  Refrigerate for at least 30 mins before using, to let the flavors mix. 

 * This stuff is like liquid gold.  Sweet, apricot flavored, liquid gold.  You can drink it on its own, or add a little soda water and pour it over ice. I mixed mine with a little honey and a pot of black tea, and refrigerated it to make a really refreshing and iced tea, infused with ‘flavors of the orient’.