Thursday 26 January 2012

White chocolate, cranberry and oatmeal biscuits




Last night I had a strong hankering for a soft oaty biscuit. So much so, that my final act, before turning off the light to go to sleep, was to write, “oats, dried cranberries/raisins?” on a post-it note and leave it by my bedside. When I read it this morning I understood what needed to be done (I always obey notes I leave myself, particularly when they involve food)...so, braving the rain I ventured out to purchase porridge oats and dried cranberries.


Luckily (hah! As if luck had anything to do with it!) I had a bar of white chocolate in the fridge and thought its mild creaminess would work very well with the cranberries; even though the cranberries I bought were sweetened, they still had a degree of tartness to them.


These biscuits are the work of minutes to make and are incredibly moreish. Normally I prefer a crisp biscuit but there is something comforting about the soft chewiness of these – they’re like a cake/biscuit/flapjack hybrid and probably even a bit healthy because of the oats and cranberries.


They stay soft and lovely for days after baking too...I am slowly working my way through them (obviously, I let Mr CC have some!)



Ingredients

150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
150g dried cranberries (I used sweetened)
100g white chocolate, cut into small chunks
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
120g porridge oats
200g plain flour


Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Line three baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and airy – as it’s brown sugar the mix will not whip as light as if caster sugar, but it will turn noticeably paler.

Beat in the eggs gradually.

Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate.

Stir in the bicarb, oats and flour.

Place rounded teaspoons of mix on the baking sheet leaving approximately 2-3cm between biscuits as they spread as they bake.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden. I checked them after 10 minutes and turned the tray for the remaining baking time.

Leave to cool on the baking sheets as they are very soft when warm.

When completely cool, store in an airtight container.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

17 comments:

Jean said...

These look lovely. And I have all the ingredients in the house.....I'll just get my apron.

Kezia said...

I love the combination of cranberries and white chocolate too - they are wonderful in cookies! And of course, being full of oats and stuff they are probably a health food!

Caroline said...

They sound great, and a lovely combination of flavours. Yum!

Rachael said...

They look lovely! It's nice to have a change sometimes :)

Choclette said...

Well of course they must be healthy and I;m amazed at your self-restraint for only working through them slowly.

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

Do you do mailorder?

Rolling Pin Claire said...

Best flavour combinations EVER and these look lovely! Have rediscovered cranberries and I'm totally lovin' them now.

Soo said...

Oatmeal cookies are my very favourite and one of the few places where I think raisins are almost acceptable.

Yummmmmmmm.....

Victory Rolls & Mixing Bowls said...

These look so hearty and seriously flap-jacky....I could easily have one every morning

Nom! x

Anne said...

Haha I do the post-it note thing too! Mine yesterday had squash, beetroot and feta pasties...we shall see if was a good idea or not soon!

The biscuits look perfect, I am a sucker for anything oaty with fruit in! Perfect for dunking in tea!

Jo said...

I'm finding myself drooling at this post. It sounds like the perfect biscuit.

Lucy said...

These biscuits look so moreish - I love the flavour combination. Hopefully the healthy oats make it acceptable to eat more than one!

sensibilia said...

Like home-made muesli with choc as well! Perfect snack material!

verity said...

Made these at the weekend as I had some white choc chips left in the house! Very tasty! Wasn't convinced when I added the brown sugar but actually it worked really well

Unknown said...

They look lovely and chewy.

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

I love that you write notes to yourself about food! I am definitely going to start doing this and hope it gets me baking more frequently. White chocolate and cranberries are always a winning combination. And I'm with you on the chewiness - so comforting! Although I do love my Hobnobs. :)

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

I haven't made cookies for ages, but I could almost persuade myself that these would be ideal for breakfast :)