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.