I’ve had an urge to bake cookies this week – I think it’s the cold, rainy weather – far more than I’ve actually had an urge to eat cookies. Surely I’m not the only person that craves the cook more than the result sometimes? However, the result of this urge wasn’t exactly a hardship: chewy, soft cookies that are tart and just sweet enough. Better yet, the result was just that little bit different to a standard chocolate chip cookie (not that I would ever badmouth such a classic!), without being as indulgent as my Reeces snickerdoodles or blackforest cookies (neither of which have made it to my blog, but surely I won’t hold on you forever!), and therefore the perfect compromise.
At 130 calories per cookie, these are pretty standard in terms of your chocolate chip biscuit, which was reassuring, because some cookies hit double this without much increase in size or flavour, and really, you want your treats to be worth it. To me, I haven’t met a cookie worth nearly 300 calories, but I find 130 calories is easy to build into a reasonable day. And really, we’re all entitled to a little treat now and then. The more time I spend in this healthier lifestyle, the less I worry about numbers. It’s a liberating feeling, but I still like knowing what I’m eating, so I keep tabs on caloric values, even if I no longer count them like I used to.
Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup self raising flour
pinch of salt
3/4 cup craisins
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Method
- Preheat oven to 175C and line 3 baking trays with baking paper.
- Beat sugars and butter for 5 minutes, until pale and creamy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add to butter mixture a little at a time, mixing until completely combined.
- Roll tablespoonfuls into balls and place 8 on each tray, leaving a few centimetres for slight spreading.
- Bake for 15 minutes until firm and golden. Cool on tray for a few minutes, then move to a cooling rack.
NB from Master 12, Miss 9 and The Husband: apparently, they make a fantastic ice cream sandwich.
NB from Mac the dog:
“I am the goodest boy and didn’t eat the cookies, even though Mama left us together unsupervised. She should reward me. With cookies.”
