Baked Apricots

Who is in the mood for some baked apricots? One of my favorite things to do in summer time is to come home from the market overloaded with seasonal fruits. I like to take advantage of them now, they are here only for a few weeks. Very often I find myself with a few pounds of apricots and no exact plan, but who needs a plan anyway? One day I can make a marmalade or a tart, apricot trifle the list is endless. Without a doubt baked apricots is my favorite way to have them, I just love the contrast of hot and cold because to me, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of baked apricots is a must. 

Another thing I love to do when making this dessert is to do cardamon cookie crumbs to go on top of the baked apricots. Cardamon is my ingredient of choice when it comes to spice things up in a dessert. I use it very often and in this case, I think it works quite well.

Ingredients:

6 apricots, peeled, halved, and pitted

2 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of sweet wine (or your favorite sweet liquor)

1 pod of vanilla (or 1 tablespoon of good vanilla extract)

butter to grease the pan

For the topping:

1 teaspoon finely ground cardamom

4oz Graham crackers 

3 tablespoons melted butter

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Place the apricots, cut sides up, in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar, vanilla and sweet wine (make sure all the apricots get coated) Bake until apricots are soft, about 25 minutes.

For the topping:

Finely grind the crackers in a food processor. Add the cardamom and melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened. Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

To assemble:

Serve the apricots with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream and sprinkle with cardamom cookie crumbs, serve immediately.