Apricot Crescents

Week 455. Winter 2024. I am 41 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like soup and bread and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The garden is sleeping under mulch, resting for spring, and I stood in it this week and thought about dirt and time and the way both of them turn nothing into something if you're patient enough.

Mason is 13 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.

Lily is 11 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made cinnamon rolls this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

I didn’t make cinnamon rolls from scratch this week — I made these apricot crescents, which are close enough in spirit that my hands knew exactly what they were doing. There’s something about rolled dough and a sweet filling that feels like the same gesture across different recipes, the same instinct that says make something with your hands, make it warm, make it for the people in this house. Lily ate three before they were cool. Mason didn’t say much, just reached for another one, which is about as high a compliment as a 13-year-old gives.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 24 crescents

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/2 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces throughout.
Add the wet ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the egg yolk, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough comes together. Divide into three equal portions, flatten each into a disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat and prep. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll and fill. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disc of dough into a 10-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Spread approximately 1/4 cup of apricot preserves evenly over the surface, leaving a small border at the edge. Sprinkle with chopped nuts if using.
Cut and roll. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the circle into 8 equal wedges (like a pizza). Starting from the wide outer edge, roll each wedge toward the pointed tip. Place point-side down on the prepared baking sheet and curve the ends slightly to form a crescent shape. Repeat with remaining dough discs.
Bake. Bake for 13–15 minutes, until the crescents are lightly golden on the bottom and just set on top. They should not be deeply browned — pull them while they still look pale on top.
Finish and serve. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Once completely cool, dust generously with powdered sugar. Serve the same day for best texture, or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apricot Crescents — The Food That Connects Every Version of You