Sticky apricots stuffed with clotted cream

By: Greg Malouf, Lucy Malouf
From: Turquoise
Serves: 4-6
Photographer: Lisa Cohen and William Meppem

Deep-amber and ivory in tone, these popular Turkish sweet treats are exquisitely pretty – and they taste sensational. Make sure you use good-quality, large dried apricots; in Turkey the best apricots come from Malatya and these are exported all around the world. It can be difficult sometimes to find whole dried apricots, in which case you’ll have to use apricot halves and sandwich them together. The cream used in Turkey is kaymak, a thick clotted cream made from buffalo milk. Lightly sweetened mascarpone, crème fraîche and strained yoghurt are the best alternatives if you can’t find kaymak.

Pekmez, or grape molasses, is available from Turkish food stores.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
350ml	water
2 tablespoons	caster sugar, plus extra, as necessary
1/2 stick	cinnamon
6	cardamom pods, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons	pekmez
1 tablespoon	lemon juice
250g	dried apricots
250g	clotted cream, mascarpone or strained yoghurt
2 tablespoons	unsalted pistachios, shelled and finely ground or slivered

Method

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. When the syrup is clear, add the cinnamon, cardamom, pekmez and lemon juice, then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Add the apricots, then lower the heat a little and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the apricots to cool in the syrup.
Remove the apricots from the syrup and let them drain for a moment in a sieve. Reserve the syrup. Sweeten the cream with a little sugar to taste. If you are using whole apricots, slit them carefully along one side and fill them generously with cream. If using apricot halves, sandwich them together with a spoonful of cream. Arrange the stuffed apricots on a serving plate and chill. When ready to serve, sprinkle each apricot with pistachios and drizzle with a little syrup.