Wintertime Fruit Drops

My youngest daughter is a busy stay-at-home mom who always finds time to get together with me on Fridays for lunch.  I try to make meals that are tasty, quick and easy, and reduced in fat and calories.  Here is the meal we had this week.

I developed this recipe in the early 1980s to enter in an Archway Cookie contest at the Ohio State Fair.  I didn’t win, but the family liked this soft cookie with all kinds of healthy ingredients and not too bad for a dieter.

• Servings: Approx. 2 doz. cookies
• Print

• 1/2 water
• 1/3 cup snipped dried apricots
• 1/3 cup snipped prunes
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small saucepan, heat the water until boiling.  Remove from heat and add apricots, prunes and raisins.  Stir and allow mixture to stand for 15 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, cream brown sugar and butter, add egg and lemon extract.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Add to brown sugar mixture and beat until blended.  Stir in drained dried fruit and chopped nuts.

Drop by a level measuring tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving 2″ between each cookie.

Bake @ 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes until cookies are golden brown.  Cool on a rack.

Yield:  Approximately 2 dozen cookies 

Nutrition per Diet Power software based on 24 cookies:  One cookie = 88 calories, 3.27 g fat, 15.2 mg cholesterol, 25.1 mg sodium, 85.1 mg potassium, 14.1 g carbohydrate, 0.659 g dietary fiber, 1.4 g protein

Weight Watchers Points based on 24 cookies:  2 points per cookie

For our entree today, we had an old favorite – Mom’s Tuna Melts (see recipe here).

This week, we were joined by my oldest daughter and the three of us enjoyed a reduced calorie/fat lunch with a lot of good flavor.