This recipe is originally by Dorie Greenspan, from Baking From My Home to Yours. I found it on Popsicles and Sandy Feet and made some slight variations due to the ingredients I could get hold of (and to leave out the dried coconut, because I’m not a fan). It’s a lovely chunky biscuit that’s so variable – the recipe calls for a cup of dried fruit and a cup of nuts, and there are so many different flavour combinations you could try. Over at Popsicles and Sandy Feet, Mary has detailed six different combinations she tried.

I ended up using dried cranberries, pecans and 70% dark chocolate. The original recipe calls for two cups of chocolate chips, but I think (astonishingly, given my love of chocolate) that it’s too much, with all the other additions to the mixture. I cut it down to one, and I think the results are marvellous. Chewy, oaty, fabulous cookies.

ingredients:
1 ½ cups plain flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
90 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ cup treacle (the original recipe calls for molasses, I thought this was probably the closest substitute)
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1 cup coarsely chopped dried fruit
1 cup of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat the oven to 165 C. Line your baking trays with baking paper (or, if you’re me, roughly tear off two sheets of baking paper and lie them on top of your trays, not bothering to stick them down with anything).

If you’re a more focussed cook than me, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer if you’re fancy), cream the butter and sugar together for a couple of minutes. Pour in the treacle and beat for another minute. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Mixing on low, pour in the oats, and then add the dry ingredients you’ve whisked together (or, if you’re me, pour them all separately into the mix at this stage), mixing only until combined. Toss in the nuts, fruit, and chocolate and stir together with a spoon until they’re mixed through.

Apparently you can wrap the dough and chill it for up to two days at this stage, however I baked it right away. Spoon the mixture onto baking trays – the original recipe calls for an icecream scoop with a two tablespoon capacity – I used a heaped dessert spoon. Plonk your spoonfuls of mixture onto the trays (apparently about 1.5 inches apart – I never pay any attention to strictures like that and generally place things where it looks right. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t) and bake for about 15 – 18 minutes, until the cookies are golden and just set. Leave them to cool on a baking rack.

I’m looking forward to trying another variation on this – with raisins and salted peanuts, which sounds intriguing.