Apricot-walnut oatmeal cookies

    A little bit of sweetness today! And it comes in the shape of apricot cookies! Yumm! These cookies are perfect, if you ask me, not too sweet, with a little bit of a crunch from the walnuts and a lot of flavor from the apricots. Plus, it takes less than half an hour to have them ready from scratch. Does it get any better than that? 

Ingredients (makes about 24 cookies)

- 1/2 cup dried apricots

- 1 cup rolled oats

- 1 cup flour (all purpose/whole wheat/ rice/spelt)

- 1 cup walnuts

- 1 banana

- 1/4 cup maple syrup/honey

- 2-3 Tablespoons oil (canola/sunflower)

- pinch of sea salt

- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

- apricot jam or apricot compote

   Place the rolled oats, walnuts and apricots in a food processor and pulse until you obtain a coarse mixture. Transfer to a large bowl, add flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix everything. In a separate bowl, mash the banana with a fork, add the maple syrup (or the honey) and the oil and combine well. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking oil and, using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, place the dough on the sheet. With your finger, make a small indentation in each cookie then fill it with a little bit of apricot jam (or compote). Do not put too much jam as it could run out (I've done that before). Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden on the bottom. Enjoy!