Apricot-Almond Snack Cookies

I generally make two kinds of cookies - "snack cookies" that are healthy treats disguised in cookie form, and then true oh-so-good delicious treat cookies. The apricot-almond cookies I made up yesterday are definitely the former! They are very lightly sweet, surprisingly moist and chewy, and are chock-full of good-for-you ingredients. The girls were delighted to have "cookies" at snack time, though I doubt they were fooled into thinking these were the same as a good old chocolate chip cookie!

Apricot-Almond Snack Cookies

1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp apricot preserves
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup rolled oats
6 oz dried apricots

Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor, grind together the almonds, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and cinnamon until almonds are finely ground and mixture is starting to clump together. Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside; then, grind the rolled oats and dried apricot together in the food processor until the apricots are finely chopped.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, preserves, and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the ground almond-flour mixture. Stir in the ground apricot-oat mixture.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and place about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. (if you have extra dried apricot, you could chop it up and stick a little piece in each ball to decorate - like a health-nut version of those peanut butter blossom cookies). Bake for about 13-15 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned. Let cool completely - they taste much better cooled than warm.