White Chocolate Apricot Shortbread Cookies

“I am still convinced that a good, simple, homemade cookie is preferable to all the store-bought cookies one can find.” —James Beard

I am a sucker for a good cookie and have my favorite recipes that I rotate through. I just added a new cookie to that rotation and am so excited to share it with you. My all-time favorite undergrad professor was one of my French lit professors (who I also subsequently worked for as a research assistant). I have kept in touch with him over the years and occasionally we are able to go and visit him and his wonderful wife Peggy. On our last visit Peggy had the most wonderful white chocolate and apricot shortbread cookies for us to nibble on and I begged her for the recipe.
Being the sweetheart that she is, she emailed it to me right away. Now I almost wish that she had refused to send it, swearing it is a trade secret or something because these cookies are dangerous. The base of the cookie is made up of four ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, and cream cheese. See why these might be dangerous? Let’s keep going and maybe you’ll start to figure it out if you haven’t already.
You mix those four ingredients together and then you decide on your add-ins. Because I’m a copycat and because I have been in the mood for all things apricot lately, I added in what Peggy had–dried apricots and white chocolate chips (though I think she also added in some dates, but I used all apricots). You could use an endless variety of add-ins, mixing and matching your favorites (dried cranberries, dates, nuts, toffee bits, etc.).
Mix your add-ins into the dough,
and then form balls of dough and place them on the cookie sheet.
Then you bake them for about 15 minutes, and while they’re baking suddenly realize that Squirrel has been emptying out an entire package of baby wipes while you were busy with the cookie dough,
and try not to laugh as you explain to Squirrel that what she did was naughty and she should not do that again.
Now your cookies are ready to come out of the oven and you begin the excruciating process of waiting for them to cool so you can eat them.
Finally, when the cookies have completely cooled, it’s time to eat!
I love the combination of fruit and white chocolate, and the two meld perfectly together in this soft shortbread cookie.
I did some experimenting with the dough and came to several conclusions. It is better to make small balls of dough, and they bake better if you roll each ball lightly between the palms of your hands instead of just dropping them onto the cookie sheet like I started out doing:
They tend to cook more evenly, hold together better, and look prettier. Compare the finished products (the cookie that was rolled between my palms before baking is the one on the right):
Another observation is that if you want a more delicate cookie, stick with two cups of flour in the dough. If you want a bit firmer, chewier cookie, increase the flour to two and a half cups. Enjoy!

Peggy’s White Chocolate Apricot Shortbread Cookies
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 – 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried apricots, cut into pieces with scissors

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cream butter and sugar together; add cream cheese and mix until incorporated.

3. Add 2 cups of flour and then determine if you want to add additional flour.

4. Add white chocolate chips and dried apricot pieces and mix.

5. Form into small balls of dough and place on cookie sheet.

6. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until just starting to brown.

7. Remove to wire rack to cool.

8. Send me some cookies as a thank you to me for sharing this recipe with you.

Coming Next: Trying to cook with what’s in season.