Chewy Oats & Raisins Cookies

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures

To me "tea" was just that black, brown, green or yellow liquid that we drink. So when my mother-in-law, who is British, asked "What would you like for tea?", my response was "Oh, no thank you". I remember thinking to myself "What other tea has she got apart from PG tips AND I'm still drinking from the cup she made me minutes before!". 

 

Probably taken aback slightly by my response she asked again, "Are you sure you wouldn't like tea?" to which I responded while pointing to my half-filled tea cup "I still have some left", a little embarrassed by my lack of tea-drinking speed. 

That was when my husband, Daniel, intervened to explain what "tea" my mother-in-law was offering. She was not referring to drinking tea, of course. Instead, she was referring to "tea as a meal" which is a light meal consisting of cakes, crisps, cookies, finger food and sandwiches. That was one of my first British Culture 101 lesson.

To create the feeling of "Britishness" at home, I do make tea occasionally. Last weekend, I made some lovely Chewy Oats & Raisins cookies which I found on BBC Good Food. These cookies are meant to be slightly chewy and go really well with a hot cup of tea in the afternoon. Here is an adaptation of the recipe and I hope you will like it.

Ingredients list:  

• 100g butter 
• 70g caster sugar 
• 100g all-purpose flour 
• 160g porridge oats 
• 100g raisins 
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder   
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 2 eggs 

Instructions (Baking time - 16 minutes)

1. Heat the oven to 180 C. Grease a large baking sheet. 
2. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to mix the butter and caster  sugar together until soft.
3. Add the eggs and cinnamon powder and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder and raisins together. Make sure they are well mixed before adding it to the butter mixture with a spatula.
5. Scoop tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto the baking sheet and bake for 16 minutes (the cookies should be slightly browned, so do keep an eye on them).
6. Remove from oven once they are cooked but DO NOT remove cookies from tray. Give the cookies a couple of minutes to cool slightly and settle before moving them to a cooling tray to cool completely. 

Tips

I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe because the raisins I use are already very sweet. Some people who tried this recipe said that its texture was more like a cake rather than a cookie. Well, it is meant to be a little more on the soft side. So if you are looking for a crispy cookie recipe, this would definitely not be your cup of tea. (Note to self: bake more cookies)

It could be my oven, but baking for 10-12 minutes as per the original recipe definitely was not long enough for my cookies. They were slightly undercooked. Also, baking them a few minutes more will give you a more crispy texture.