Apricot Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

In Penzey's spice store, there are cardboard stands on top of the shelves, offering tear-off recipes using featured spices. They change the recipes about every month, and I love collecting my little stack every time I go.

Last time I went I found this little gem of a recipe for oatmeal cookies with NO RAISINS but such exotics as mace and, that's right, coriander. I do not dig raisins in very many things, including oatmeal cookies. But dried cranberries and dried apricots make a different case altogether.

This is by far my favorite oatmeal cookie; my new go-to. Awesome chewy texture, perfect flavors, though frankly next time I might double every spice - I like to really taste them!
Apricot Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground mace
1/2 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted
1/4 cup dried apricots, diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpat.

2. Cream together sugars and butter. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a bit at a time, mixing well after each addition.

4. Mix together the pecans, apricots and cranberries in the bowl that used to hold the flour. Alternate adding the oatmeal and fruit/nut mix to the batter, mixing well after each addition.

5. Form walnut-sized balls of dough and place on cookie sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes, keeping dough in refrigerator between batches. Let cool on tray; if you try to move them while still hot they will fall apart. Makes about 27 cookies