Drunken Spiced Apricots With White Chocolate Coconut Sauce

Submitted by happygurl06

"This is a lovely warming dessert to be served with a nice warmed glass of cognac...mmm or mulled wine. The whole spices can be substituted by ground if needed. ------"

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• Apricots

• 2 cups dried apricots
• 1⁄4 cup Cointreau liqueur
• 4 fresh oranges, juiced
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick

• Sauce

• 2 cups coconut milk
• 100 g white chocolate
• 1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla essence

directions

1. Apricots:

2. Combine all Apricot ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
3. Remove from Heat and place in a heat proof bowl and let stand, covered for at least 1 hour.

4. Sauce:

5. Chop chocolate into small pieces.
6. Using a double boiler (or a ceramic or metal bowl over a pot of simmering water - don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl) heat the coconut milk.
7. As the coconut milk starts to get hot, add the chopped chocolate, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted.
8. Add the Vanilla Essence and stir quickly to avoid the sauce separating.

9. To Serve:

10. Remove the whole spices from the apricots and re heat if you wish.
11. Place equal portions of the apricots into serving bowls and drizzle a little of the orange cointreau sauce over them.
12. Pour the warm coconut chocolate sauce over the top.
13. Can also be served with vanilla ice-cream.

Reviews

[justcallmetoni]

Ending the RSC contest on a high note here with this fruity and fabulous dessert. I loved the apricots and had a hard time not eating them all before serving. With the long slow simmer they were so plump and swollen with the wonderful flavor of the spices and a hint of orange. I will make these again. For the contest I also made the sauce but found the apricots stood just as well without the sauce. Not a huge fan of coconut milk, the sauce was good but didn't make my heart race. (Actually, I saved the leftover sauce the and found that it was much richer and creamier at room temperature.) The reference to ice cream also got me thinking that the apricots would would well with something creamy or custardy. With icy temperatures here in NYC, I wanted something kinda warm so I threw together a quick bread pudding and spooned what was left on the bread pudding. Soooooo good. Thanks and good luck.