Ginger, Oat & Sultana Cookies

This cookie recipe comes from the wonderful Popina Book of Baking. I have made them before and found they worked particularly well as a form of bribery when babysitting a 3 year old for a day.  It's amazing how you can get them to behave with the lure of a homemade biscuit.  I'm not sure that it would be one of Super Nanny's chosen methods but there you go!


They are a chewy cookie and the ginger sultana combo is delicious. I like to think the oats make them marginally more healthy too....


The recipe can be found in The Popina Book of Baking.

Rosemary & Pepper Oatcakes

I was lucky enough to spend most of Friday afternoon hosting an afternoon tea at The Soho Hotel, in the name of work. Their sandwiches, cakes and scones were delicious - the eclairs being the stars of the show! I was still a bit caked out when I came to getting my cookbook out this morning. So, I decided to bake something savoury today and found this recipe for oatcakes in a copy of Feel Good Food magazine. I love oatcakes, especially with a really good cheese and chutney, but have never made them before. I added some chopped rosemary to the recipe as I thought it would go nicely with the black pepper and have some in my window box not being used enough! I bought some lovely Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese to go with them from Good Taste, a newly opened and much needed deli up the road.

The Recipe

50g plain flour

150g oatmeal (I used coarse)

2 tspn ground black pepper

1/2 tspn salt

fresh rosemary cut into small pieces

125g unsalted butter, diced

milk, to glaze

1. Heat oven to 200c, gas 6. Grease a baking sheet. Put all the ingredients , except the milk, in a food processor and blend until the mixture starts to bind. Add 2-3 tbspn cold water and mix until it forms a firm dough.

2. Roll the dough out thinly on a floured surface. Use a pastry cutter to cut out rounds. Place on the baking sheet and brush with milk before sprinkling each one with some extra salt and pepper.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes until just beginning to colour. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Naomi's Revel Bars

I found this recipe in a very old American cookbook called Chocolate Lover's Cookies & Brownies which I've had on my bookshelf for donkeys years but never used. I have no idea who Naomi is so any info is very welcome! I had a bit of the oat mixture left so I made them into cookies which worked well.

The Recipe

240g unsalted butter + 2 extra tablespoons

360g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tspns vanilla extract

300g plain flour

1 tspn bicarb of soda

400g rolled oats

200g chocolate (I used Green & Blacks 70% dark)

1 can condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 160c. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch plan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and beat until light. Add vanilla extract.

3. Combine flour and baking soda and stir into the creamed mixture. Blend in the oats.

4. Spread 3/4 of the oat mixture evenly in the prepared pan.

5. Combine the chocolate, condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan. Stir over a low heat until melted. Pour the chocolate mixture evenly over the oat mixture in the tin. Dot with remaining oat mixture.

6. Bake 20-25 mins or until the edges are browned and the centre feels firm. Cool in the pan on a wire rack and then cut into bars.