Do you remember the episode of Friends in Season 7 where Monica bakes a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies in an attempt to decipher Phoebe’s grandma’s lost recipe? Batch 17 was almost perfect, but the last cookie disappears before Monica could use it to work from……. after all those cookies and all that effort I would have gone mental! (Ok, actually before she decides to use cookie 17 for further creations, she finds out “grandma’s” recipe for the cookies they are all raving about was the exact one on each packet of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. She flipped out Monica style. But that’s irrelevant.)

Over the past months I have been through a similar, not quite as crazy, process with oat and raisin cookies: my “healthy”, satisfying comfort cookies. My already elevated cholesterol levels would certainly not have been happy had my cookie-craze been related to peanut butter and chocolate chips. Granted, oat and raisin cookies aren’t the healthiest out there, but doesn’t the name alone imply that there is some healthy aspect to them…? Health and all aside, occasional cravings have to be satisfied. Finally I managed to create near perfection, batch 17.5:

Ultimate Oat and Raisin Cookies

makes 12

You’ll need

90g butter, softened
60g caster sugar
60g light brown sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1-1.5 tsp runny honey
160g flour
70-80g rolled oats
110g raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Mix the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer. Add the eggs and incorporate well. Beat in the vanilla extract and honey.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and oats. Add to the butter mixture and beat well.
4. Finally stir in the raisins with a spoon or spatula.
5. Divide the dough into equal sized dough-balls and place on parchment lined baking trays. Make sure you have enough space between your balls of dough as the cookies tend to spread while baking.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. If you like them crunchy, you can leave them in for a bit longer.
7. Take them out of the oven, transfer them onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Rating: 9/10