Raisin and Oat Cookies

This is a classic American recipe. I was taking advice from my daughters about what sort of biscuits to bake for some visitors, and I was asked to make something like flapjack, but softer. This fitted the bill. It is an easy and delicious recipe. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 125g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon or allspice
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp table salt
  • 115g butter
  • 100g muscovado sugar (or other soft brown sugar)
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 150g rolled porridge oats
  • 150g raisins or sultanas

METHOD:

  • Mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt
  • Cream the butter and both types of sugar together, until well combined and soft. 
  • Beat in the vanilla extract, and then slowly beat in the egg. 
  • Add the flour mixture and then add the oats and raisins, and mix until the cookie dough is even and all the ingredients well dispersed. 
  • Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line two baking trays with grease-proof paper. 
  • Once the dough is chilled, take a teaspoon and scoop out lumps of cookie dough. Each lump should be rolled into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball. Put each ball on the prepared baking trays and gently squish a little to make the ball a little flat. The cookies should be well-spaced to make sure they don’t coalesce whilst baking. You should be able to get 11 to 12 cookies on each tray. 
  • Bake in separate batches for 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are beginning to go golden brown, and the top is set. 
  • Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the baking tray for around 5 minutes, before transferring them onto a wire rack. 

If you skip the bit about chilling them for 30 minutes, the biscuits will end up flatter; a personal choice. They are nice slightly thicker because they are soft in the middle.