Transform your usual yoghurt and granola breakfast bowl into a scrumptious treat with these poached apricots! Apricots are one of those fruits that shine when cooked, and adding sweet spice creates a whole new level of delicate deliciousness. Immerse yourself into invigorating aromas of vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom as you enjoy this little kitchen project.
The Flavour Affair:
Apricots + Vanilla + Cinnamon + Green Cardamom + Lemon
Cooking apricots turns a mediocre fruit into heaven, especially if paired with vanilla. Adding more of sweet and warm spice improves the taste further by creating more variety. For the best results, use whole spices – their aromas will open up slowly during poaching, infusing the syrup with a lot of delicious flavours.
Apricots: any type will do, but those with a slight blush will look a little prettier 🙂
Vanilla: Madagascan (Bourbon) vanilla pod with its rich, creamy flavour works best in this recipe. You will only need a half and can keep the other half for future use.
Cinnamon: sweet, warm and slightly spicy, cinnamon adds a cozy, comforting feel.
Green Cardamom: I absolutely love green cardamom and don’t need an excuse to use it in both sweet and savory recipes. Its fresh, floral aromas with citrusy undertones and subtle sweetness make green cardamom unique and versatile at the same time. I often include it into a mix with warmer, woody spices to create a more complex and layered flavour profile.
Lemon: lemon zest provides contrast and gives the apricots a little tang. Cooked in sweet syrup, it loses much of its bitterness but retains the aromatic essence.
Other ingredients include sugar, and you can also add allspice, mace or cloves if you want a little spicier taste.
Preparation tips for poached apricots:
- As mentioned above, I recommend to use whole spices in this recipe. They retain their essential oils much better than ground spice which helps to achieve a richer, more robust flavour.
- Give your spices a little time to infuse the syrup by gently simmering them for a few minutes before adding the apricots.
- Be careful to not overcook the apricots. Different types need different cooking times, so check them about 5 minutes into cooking to make sure they are not turning mushy. If they overcook, the skin will also peel off and it will be hard to keep the shape.
Serving suggestions:
There are many ways you can enjoy poached apricots. Use them to top up your favorite breakfast bowl be it yoghurt and granola, quick oats or rice porridge. Or serve them over vanilla ice cream for an indulgent dessert:
Or just enjoy them on their own, maybe with some roasted almonds for a special sweet treat 🙂
Poached apricots can be easily kept in the fridge for a week so there is a lot of time to experiment with different combos!
***
Poached Apricots with Yoghurt and Granola
Equipment
- 1 medium cooking pot
Ingredients
- ~ 20 apricots
- 150 g sugar
- 350 ml water
- Zest of one lemon use vegetable peeler
- 1/2 bourbon vanilla pod
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves optional
Instructions
- Wash the apricots, cut them in halves and take the seed out.
- Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
- In a medium pot, combine water, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla pod and seeds.
- Bring to boil, breaking the vanilla seeds in the meantime with a wooden spoon.
- Add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves (if using) and let simmer for 5-7 minutes.
- Add the apricots and carefully move around to arrange so that most are submerged in the syrup.
- Cook for another 5 and check for doneness. The apricots should soften but remain firm enough to not break up.
- Once ready, transfer the apricots to a bowl together with the syrup and let cool down completely to the room temperature.
- Enjoy as they are, or with vanilla ice cream, or top your granola & yoghurt bowl (make sure to pour in lots of syrup, too!)
