Oats so tasty!

I have been having problems with my computer over the last week hence the lack of posting. It was "preparing to hibernate" for 3 days. Very frustrating, and worrying as I thought that I had lost lots of images that I hadn't got round to backing up! Anyway. I am back in action.

Last week, I was on the Ray D'arcy programme on TodayFM. After asking for help in coming up with an Irish biscuit recipe, the common ingredient in a lot of the suggestions was oats. They are one of the only ingredients or foods that are known to actively lower cholesterol. They are low in fat and are a low GI food too. Meaning that they are all round good for you. Horray!!

I adapted a lovely recipe to include fresh blackberries.

Pre heat the oven to 180C and line 2 fairly big baking trays with parchment.

You will need;

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature

215 g light brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract

105g plain flour, one half tsp baking soda

one half tsp salt, one half tsp cinnamon

260g rolled porridge oats

200g blackberries

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth in an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the oats. The mixture will be heavy so it is best to do this last part by hand.

Before adding the berries, bake in a hot oven for about 30 mins. This will sweeten them up nicely. Add them to the batter. They will be very soft and will squash up but this adds to the colour and the texture of the cookies once cooked.

For large cookies, take a large tablespoon of batter and space the cookies about 2 inches apart. Wet your hand and flatten down on the tray, so that they are about half an inch thick. Bake for about 15 mins, or until golden at the edges and still soft in the middle.

Remove from the ovens and let cool or a few mins on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Other suggestions that I made for the show were Ginger nuts and a variation of fig rolls. There was also some very exciting news when I was on the show!

More to follow tomorrow and Friday!

Orls xx