Apricot Tassies

For Halloween this year, my husband bought some little packages of different snacks to be given to the students in the library. One of the items in the mix were packages of diced apricots. They looked to perfect for me to include them as Halloween candy, so I set the apricots aside and I knew I would be able to use them in a recipe. I occasionally bake with apricots, but not nearly enough!

I love anything made in a mini muffin cup, so when I came across this recipe it wasn’t much of a decision for me to know I was going to make them. They are a simple cream cheese dough base filled with apricot jam, but in this case, you make the apricot jam. The jam is not difficult, just some time simmering on the stove and then adding a handful of ingredients. My jam was chunky, which I didn’t mind, but you could also puree it with an immersion blender if you wanted a smooth texture.

The dough for these cookies is so simple, mainly flour, butter, and cream cheese.  I would add some salt to the dough, as I think it needs it. The original recipe stated that it made four dozen cookies. I made a little over three dozen, but I think I could have used less dough for each cookie. The dough is fairly thick on the bottom, so I would want that to be thinner next time. The flavor of the jam is just wonderful and the chopped apricots were perfect for this recipe.

Apricot Tassies
1 cup chopped dried apricots
water
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoon apple/orange juice

1 ⅓ cups butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 ⅔ cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, place the apricots and enough water to cover the fruit and come 1 inch above the apricots. Simmer on medium-low for about 20 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the sugar, butter, cinnamon, and juice and continue cooking until the mixture becomes like jam. Place in a separate bowl and refrigerate until chilled.

To make the dough, combine the butter and cream cheese in a large mixer bowl. Beat on medium until incorporated. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, mixing until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour, or longer.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Have on hand several mini muffin pans, as this recipe yields between 3-4 dozen tassies.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2 inch balls and place into the mini muffin pans. Using a tart tamper or similar tool, press down the dough and make and indentation in each to make a tart/tassie shape. Fill each cookie with a small amount of the apricot jam.

Bake for 10-14 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and the tassie dough is barely golden. Allow the tassies to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Recipe from Amee’s Savory Dish