Apple and Oatmeal Cookies

Hooray, the first of the cookie recipes to be attempted. I haven't made any until now as 1) there are only four cookie recipes in the cook book and two of them are Christmas themed, 2) As you all know I don't like making doughs and 3) The cookies aren't chocolate and don't seem that tempting. Time to suck it up though and have a go at them.

The first thing I notice about this recipe is that it uses both light brown and caster sugar, which is mixed with the butter until fluffy. The vanilla essence and egg are in the bowl next and whisked together. The rest of the dry ingredients are sifted as one and added in two batches as always, unsure why this always is but hey I just do as I'm told. These have to be mixed in a mixer, which I don't own, or by hand. This is where I admit to something stupid..I started using my actual hands, rubbing them together like other recipes state. It wasn't working very well and questioned whether it meant hands or by hand with a spoon, but then it usually says that in the cook book. It was just covering my fingers and so I washed it off and tried with a wooden spoon instead. This turned out a much better technique and I felt a bit of a fool afterwards.

The apples needed to be peeled and then grated. This was a nightmare as the Granny Smiths are full of juice they just turn to mush. Managed to keep my thumb and fingers clear of the grater this time and after slaving away for what seemed like ages I had managed to get as much of the apple grated as possible. Next it was time to squeeze the juice out of the flesh. I had grated them into a sieve and used this to press them against to remove the juice. It took a while and just as it was almost finished I figured out that crushing it in my hands actually removed more juice than the sieve idea and was quicker too. Another fail but its all trial and error in this business I guess.

The liquid is thrown away and the apples and oats are mixed in, by hand (with a spoon this time) and the dough is finished. Removing my wedding rings, I set about grabbing chunks, rolling them in my palms and then placing onto the baking trays covered with greaseproof paper. I flattened them a little before they went into the oven. I cooked them midway between the 15 – 20 minutes stated, I think about 18 in total as I like them crisp around the edges and soft in the middle and this time frame seemed to cook them like that perfectly. Once out and had cooled just enough to handle, Hubby nicked one straight away, whilst they were warm and said they were delicious. I was next and they were yum, not what I was expecting at all. You could taste the sweet and also salty mix to the cookies and they were quite more-ish. So much so that the dozen baked on Saturday afternoon were gone by early Sunday morning and Hubby persuaded me to make another dozen on Sunday..they aren't lasting much longer either lol.