sweet and spicy apricot-buffalo chicken wings with blue-cheese yogurt dipping sauce

chicken wings are one of my (many) weaknesses.. pete and i meet our friends tina and lo just about every friday night at buffalo wild wings.. aka bww or bdub.. we've been doing it for many years..every once in awhile we try a new place or once pete said we needed to expand our pallet and eat at restaurants with different ethnic themes.. but eventually we always end back at bww.. now on the rare occasion we don't go, which is when one of us are out of town or have a family commitment, i still want wings.. (actually even sometimes when we do go on friday night i make wings on saturday too i love them.. wings, pizza and a beer.. good lawdy..) anyway.. i used to fry mine i had a fry daddy for about a month and i put in the garage, thinking i would dump the grease later.. well pete took it to mean i didn't want it anymore and donated it.. he has done this quite often and donated the WRONG things.. *sigh* we now have  rule you can NOT donate unless you have clear instructions to do so.. we have lost our rainbow vacuum, shelby's prom dress, i could go on but i won't.. smh.. then i went through a phase where i would take about a cup of flour and a tablespoon of cayenne pepper in a ziplock, toss my wings in the bag and shake'em up and fry'em in my iron skillet.. those were wicked good.. but now since we are somewhat health conscience.. i bake them and they come out crispy and moist..just plain yummy.. the sauces differ all the time.. i love bbq sauce on mine.. or honey and cayenne.. sometimes a little spicy asian.. i've been known to make mango habanero or sweet n spicy jalapeno sauces too.. but this time i went pretty basic.. as in real basic.. as in so simple it's ridiculous.. it's franks buffalo sauce and some of my apricot preserves!! yep that's it.. how simple is that and it was sooooooooooo good!

as for dipping sauces i am a blue cheese all the way kinda girl.. no ranch or any of that other stuff for me.. chunky blue cheese is the way to go!! the chunkier the better.. i am always trying out new recipes at home and the one i am totally loving right now was inspired by this one here.. it's so simple but so flavorful.. i think this one will be around for a bit before i try another one..

oven baked crispy chicken wings

prep time: 5 minutes
cooking time: 1 to 1.5 hours
servings: 4

ingredients:

1 bag of party chicken wings (they usually come 24 in a bag) the ones i have been getting lately have been so meaty.. for a while they were so skinny no meat at all so kind of pay attention when buying them), defrosted
1 bottle franks buffalo wing sauce (not the hot sauce but now there is buffalo sauce)
2 tblsp. apricot jam (recipe found here..) you can use store bought i just happened to have made some jam recently..
spray pam

preheat your oven to 450 degrees (f).. make sure to defrost your wings.. i take a foil lined baking sheet and use a rack over the foil, i don't want my chicken wings cooking in their own juices.. i want them up and away from it.. i spray the rack with pam then place my wings on the rack then spray the wings with pam.. put in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes.. once they start to get crispy brown on the one side flip them over.. usually about 30 minutes, depends on how meaty or lack there of they are.. once you flip them over.. spray that side with pam and bake another 30 minutes or so.. check on them you want them a crispy light golden brown..(might take longer again depending on their size and your oven..) while they are cooking and you have about 15-20 minutes left on the wings.. heat up your sauce.. over medium high heat in a medium sauce pan heat up your buffalo sauce and apricot jam until a nice thick consistency..reduce heat to simmer.. (or whatever sauce your going to use go ahead and heat that up now.. )  once the wings are done remove from rack and put in a large silver mixing bowl.. add your sauce on top of the wings and then in a swirling motion with the bowl coat your wings.. remove from bowl to a plate and serve..

chunky blue cheese yogurt dip

prep time: 15 minutes

servings: 2 cups

ingredients:

1/4 cup finely chopped shallot

1 clove of garlic, minced

juice and zest of 1 lemon

7 ounces low fat greek plain yogurt

1/2 cup low fat sour cream

4 ounces of crumbled blue cheese

5-7 dashes of tobasco

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3 tblsp. minced fresh chives.. (i totally forgot this step but usually do it just not when taking photos i guess.. :/)

place all ingredients (except chives) in the bowl of a food processor fitted with  steel blade.. pulse the processor 12 times, until the mixture is almost smooth but still a bit chunky.. add the chives and pule two more times.. transfer to a serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before serving..