Oat, Raisin and Hazelnut Cookies

It a Friday - definitely a day for cookies! Today we have these biscuits made with porridge oats. I haven't been eating my porridge recently so seemed to have rather a lot of it. So what better than to make a sensible breakfast into a sensible (well...maybe not) cookie. It also was a great way to use up some of the black treacle that's been sitting in my cupboard since I made a Christmas cake! These are my Oat, Raisin & Hazelnut Cookies.

Ingredients:   (Makes about 60)

250g butter
200g packed dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. black treacle
1 tbsp. vanilla essence
200g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch salt
200g porridge oats
200g raisins
100g chopped hazelnuts

Method:

Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes to plump up, then drain on kitchen paper. Then cream together then butter and both sugars using a hand whisk or a wooden spoon.. Add the eggs and combine well. Then add the black treacle and vanilla essence, mixing all well together.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Finally add the porridge, fruit and nuts and mix well until you get a sticky dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour. At this stage I tend to half it and freeze half of the dough which you can freeze for up to 3 months (make sure you defrost well before cooking next time).

To cook, cover 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. A good way to get the paper to stick to the sheet with a sprinkle of water. Make small balls of a about an inch and a half and place them on the baking sheet. Press lightly with a fork to flatten slightly. Continue, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Put in the oven, set at 170 C for 10 minutes until the just beginning to brown and remove. They will still look very soft at this stage so leave them to cook on the baking tray for 5 minutes before putting onto a wire rack to cool completely before eating. I say this but I ate two that were still hot as I couldn't wait!

Enjoy!