Oat Cookies

This morning I just fancied a croissant or Danish pastry with my early morning coffee, so I walked into town to the Co-Op.  What a disappointment, their oven had broken so they weren't able to bake any.  When I got back to the boat I knocked up a batch of these Oat Cookies, not quite the same thing but just as good with coffee. They only take half an hour from scatch and they're high fibre too, which I suppose makes them a bit healthier than the croissants.

Oat Cookies makes 12

100g butter (block or spreadable)
50g sugar (brown gives best flavour)
2 tblsps runny honey
100g wholemeal self raising flour (ordinary white SR will do but not as high fibre)
100g porridge oats
70g dried fruit (use anything you have, this time I used cherries and almonds)


Weigh the butter, sugar and honey directly into a pan and melt over a low heat, making sure the sugar is fully dissolved otherwise the cookies will have a gritty texture.

Weigh the flour, oats and fruit into a bowl and mix together well, especially if using glace cherries as this stops them sticking together.

Add to the pan and mix well. The mixture will be quite wet and sticky but this is normal.

Put heaped desert spoonfuls onto a non-stick baking tray (or line an ordinary one with baking paper) and flatten down a bit with the back of a spoon.

Bake at Gas 4 (house oven) Gas 5 (boat oven) for 15 mins. till just browning round the edges.  This gives soft cookies, if you want crispier ones leave another 3-5 mins.

Leave on the baking tray to cool for 5 mins then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

These were the cherry and almond ones but I've also made them with crystallised ginger, raisins and standard mixed dried fruit. Whatever you add to them, just make sure it adds up to 70g. I suppose you could even use chocolate chunks if you wanted to be a bit naughty

Enjoy!