Oat and Raisin Cookies

This week you’ll notice that it’s biscuits again. I know we’ve been a little biscuit-heavy recently but these were specifically requested and I always aim to please. You’ll probably also notice that this week, it actually is a Treat Friday, rather than last week’s Treat Saturday. Well done me!

So on to the biscuits themselves – they have to be one of my all time favourites. While I’m a big biscuit fan in general, these are just the ones for me. If it came to a competition between oat and raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies, I’d say “get those chocolate chips out of my face” every time. So I like them. Got that?

When it comes to the practicalities of making and baking them, they’re pretty much straight forward! No piping techniques or fillings required. You could get picky and try to make them all exactly the same size and shape but let’s be honest, no sane person ever said no to a cookie because it was the wrong shape! I’ve used raisins in my recipe but if you’re not a huge fan then you can definitely substitute for the dried fruit of your choice; cranberries would be good, as would dried apple. My point is that again, it’s one of those recipes you can adapt to your taste as long as you stick to the measurements provided. The only thing that I would say on the topic really is that I’d probably avoid substituting for chocolate. Once again, I know I have very little (no) control over what you do but a sweet, chocolate cookie is just not what we’re trying to do here.

Right, I’m off to pack for a weekend in the North...while eating the majority of these cookies. I’m technically supposed to be taking them up with me but when it comes to these, I have no self control. Oh well!

Some Final Tips Before You Get Started:

• The end mixture is fairly dry so don’t panic if you think it’s gone wrong. I just smoosh it together a bit when I’m making the mounds for the cookie sheet. If the mixture was any wetter, the biscuits probably wouldn’t hold together as well, seeing as they’re fairly gooey once cooked anyway.
• I’ve given a suggested cooking time of 12-15 minutes. As you would guess, cooking for 12 minutes gives you slightly gooey-er cookies whereas 15 minutes make them crunchy. Again, it’s all about your preference.

Oat and Raisin Cookies

Makes 20

Ingredients

175g Unsalted Butter (Softened)

160g Light Brown Sugar

130g Caster Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 tbsp. Golden Syrup

170g Rolled Oats

160g Plain Flour

¾ tsp. Baking Powder

¾ tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda

¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon

170g Raisins

1)      Preheat the oven to 190◦C, line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Cream together the butter, light brown sugar and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg, vanilla extract and golden syrup until well combined.

2)      In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3)      Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Add and stir in the raisins until evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

4)      Drop evenly sized mounds of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between mounds. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.