Isn’t it nice to have a couple of days in late summer cool enough to make you want to fire up the oven and bake something! It’s been a rare but welcome treat to have temperatures in the 50s on August mornings. And, there’s nothing like cool temperatures to motivate you to bake something and surprise your family with something fresh from the oven.
When I was a kid, we’d often get a refreshing “cold snap” around the Fourth of July, which my mom called our “blackberry winter” because wild dewberries were often ready to be picked about the time. She would go out early in the morning while the slight chill was in the air, don her old rubber knee boots (to protect her from copperheads that usually hung around the berry patch) and pick berries, hoping to get enough for a pie. Berry pies never tasted as good as those baked on summer mornings!
No matter what you choose, whether it’s a pie made with fresh fruit, a cake, bread or cookies, your summer “surprise” will leave your home filled with an aroma sweeter than any room spray or freshener you could buy AND even better, it’s edible!
Our last cold snap inspired me to try a new recipe for Amaretto Apricot Chews I had found in a book from my favorite old thrift shop. The dried apricots and Amaretto offer a twist on an old favorite, oatmeal cookies, changing an old favorite into a NEW favorite, regardless of the season!
AMARETTO APRICOT CHEWS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter OR margarine, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon honey
3-4 tablespoons Ameretto*
2 1/2 cups regular or quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup snipped, dried apricots
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
Sift together flour and baking soda and set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat butter or margarine till softened. Add brown sugar and white sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, honey, and 1 tablespoon Ameretto and beat well. Add flour mixture and beat till well mixed. Stir in oats, apricots and nuts.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or till done. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute; then remove and cool thoroughly.
Stir together powdered sugar and enough of the remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons Amaretto to make an icing that can easily be drizzled over cookies. Recipe makes about 54 cookies.
*You may use almond extract and water instead of Amaretto. In dough, omit Amaretto and use 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and 2 teaspoons water. In icing, omit Amaretto and use 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and enough water (2 to 3 tablespoons) to make icing to drizzle over cookies.
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