For Sue: apricots poached with chamomile

Last week, I posted one of my favorite recipes, which was for nectarines and peaches, in red wine. It's a popular dessert, especially with me. And it provoked some comments and questions.
It always amazes me how people actually DO follow this blog. I get comments, I get questions, but you folks know... you never comment on the blog entries in writing. C'mon folks, there are over 400 of em and there are less than ten comments. SPEAK UP.
So, one of my most loyal readers, the ever present Sue (the lady in the back with her hand up), asked me about that recipe, and whether it could be done with apricots. Well, I wouldn't do it with RED wine, but I have done it, in baume de venisse, the wonderful white dessert wine, and I think you could do it with others. But I also remembered a version that I have been looking at for years, and have never made. No more.
Claudia Fleming used to be the dessert chef at the wonderful Gramercy Tavern. In my opinion, the desserts were never as good again, after she left. She wrote a wonderful book, called "The Last Course," and it is, essentially, a guide to seasonal desserts. Even if the recipes weren't wonderful ,which they are, the pictures are "food erotica" at their finest. You will never serve the desserts looking the way they do in the book, but so what? They're going to taste that good, because these are desserts you CAN MAKE YOURSELF. What follows is a no bake dessert, that will take you all of half an hour to make, and is fat free.
I love apricots. I may love them more than most fruits. And since NY produces more apricots than any other state than California (and has a longer season), we are gorging ourselves on them now. I haven't made this dessert, because it calls for chamomile blossoms, and Ms. Fleming talks about them being in season at the same time. I've never found chamomile in season at the same time as apricots, and while she does give the option of a chamomile tea bag, well...

Then today, with a bag of apricots in the fridge, I found a vendor selling chamomile. So, you see, thinking about Sue's question, and finding the chamomile, is an example of how the synapses of a diseased mind come together.

But make this. It's really good. It's easy. And if you can't find fresh chamomile, be braver than I, and use the teabag.

You need 8 apricots, which you half and stone (actually, I think you can make this in a double sized recipe: this is a recipe with a lot of syrup. I fit 11 of them, halved in my baking dish). Put them aside, while you make a simple, but heavy syrup of 1.5 cups of sugar ,dissolved in water. Then, take that off the heat, and add the flowers from one bunch of chamomile (about a quarter cup of blossoms), and the pulp of one vanilla bean. Stir that all together,steep it for five minutes and then strain it and pour it into an 8x8 glass baking dish. Put the apricots, cut side down, into the syrup, and bake for ten minutes, at 375. Then, carefully turn them over, and bake again, for another five minutes. There is so much syrup that the apricots will swim in them. That's fine

You serve these warm from the oven, or at room temperature. Store them at room temperature, as the syrup is going to keep them just fine.

Eat them as they are, and the dessert is non fat. But frankly, do you REALLY want to do that? I want these with nut cookies, or with white cheese. Maybe fresh ricotta. Try it. I think you're going to be happy with this one.