From Birmingham to Bolton... the travelling cookies

Perhaps because they are a bit less time consuming than cakes, we really have been cracking on with biscuit recipes in our quest to complete all the recipes in Delia's book of cakes. My latest was Oat & Raisin Cookies from page 142. I'm a big fan of these, and as you will know from my earlier entry on Flapjacks, my other half is a self-confessed granola addict. Having gone up to Bolton for a couple of months with work, I thought it might be nice to send him a care package. Granolas don't last so well in the post (I speak from experience) not to mention the cost for posting such a heavy snack, so I took a couple of the key ingredients (oats and raisins) and decided Delia's Oat & Raisin Cookies would travel a bit more successfully (and economically!).


Making them was a dream - melt some butter then add all the other ingredients, stir together and split the mixture into 24 little balls. 15 minutes in the oven and ta-da! It made exactly 24 'about the size of a walnut', all squashed down pretty flat before they went into the oven. You could tell from how stiff the mix was that they weren't going to spread all that much. When I make things like this, I'm always tempted to add a bit of spice - nutmeg, cinnamon or mixed spice - I don't know why, it's a compulsion I have, but I resisted on this occasion and very glad I did. You could taste the butter and the dark sweetness from the dark brown sugar. After a day or two they got a bit more chewy and were all the better for it.


Amazingly, a dozen of them survived the trek via Royal Mail from Birmingham to Bolton and were enjoyed, I'm told, with a few cups of tea up north. A highly post-able bake for anyone wanting to send a sweet parcel to a loved one far away! (They're also worth making if they're not being posted anywhere - so much tastier than supermarket versions!).