Oatmeal Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

First of all, I will confess, I am not a fan of oatmeal cookies with raisins so I look for alternative combinations other than raisins.  Whenever a recipe calls for raisins, I usually turn to my good buddy the craisin (dried cranberry).  In most cases, this works, but once in awhile, you run across a recipe that this substitution fails miserably.  For this recipe you can substitute the apricot for dried fruit like mango, peaches, strawberries, cherries, or cranberries.

Oatmeal Apricot and White Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup white chocolate chips
7 oz. dried apricots (about 1 1/2 cups), chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, oatmeal and baking soda.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add salt, vanilla, and eggs and beat until well combined.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time to the butter mixture mixing well and repeat until all of the flour mixture has been blended with the butter mixture.

Add the chips and apricots to the dough and mix on low until well combined.

Drop a heaping tablespoon (I prefer using a cookie scoop) of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake until cookies are a light golden brown around the edges, about 12-14 minutes.  Let cookies cool on baking sheets for a few minutes and transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies