A few weeks ago my mum came up to visit us when it was our village Open Gardens. She usually helps me with the baking for the cookie and cupcake stall that we have outside our gateway to raise funds for the village.  My mum had treated herself to a fabulous new recipe book called The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book.  I was fascinated by this book and even more amazed that my mum said it had only cost £5!  It had come from The Book People. I just had to buy a copy for myself.

Mum and I sat down planning what we were going to bake. I always have my staple favourites which I sell time after time on my Sam’s Smart Cookies stalls but occasionally I love to try something different.  Yet, I had to choose something that would taste delicious yet not be too sickly sweet.

Looking through the book we noticed a recipe for Oat Cookies.  I have made oat and raisin cookies before but some people say they don’t like raisins.  I thought these cookies would be a great alternative, they only contained five ingredients and were just like flapjacks in biscuit form!

For the stall, my mum made the cookies and they all sold.  I was keen to get hold of a copy of the book and was delighted when The Book People rep turned up at work. In the box of book samples was the very book I was looking for!  So, I was keen to make something out of it as soon as I could.

Here’s how they were made:

First, I melted butter, soft light brown sugar and golden syrup gently in a saucepan until the butter melted and the sugar had dissolved.  After this had cooled slightly I tipped rolled oats and some self raising flour into the pan.

This was stirred together until well combined.  I then used my small ice cream scoop to put small balls of cookie dough spaced well apart on baking trays covered in baking parchment. I only put six on a tray as they spread out when baking.

I like my cookies quite soft so I kept them in the oven for 12-15 minutes.  They were hard enough to move off the tray onto the cooling rack but still soft enough to eat!