I was having a bit of a cold and getting tired of all the chicken soup, so I needed to take action. In oriental cuisine, the tart goji berries are used against colds (in chicken soup, but also in tea, cookies…) so I decided to make some cookies with them. I wanted something a bit “healthy” as well, so I thought rolled oats would do just the trick! I went ahead and adapted the Oat and Raisin Cookie recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook to my liking. Here’s how:
Preheat the oven to 170°C and mix 135 g unsalted butter (at room temperature) with 160 g brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg and a few drops of vanilla extract and mix well. Stir in 190 g plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice (the recipe calls for cinnamon, but I think it easily overpowers and I’m a bit tired of the taste) and 55 g rolled oats (you can still use your electric mixer at this point). Now stir in 80 g raisins and 40 g goji berries (or cranberries – you can also use all raisins of course or even add chocolate chunks) until evenly dispersed. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and arrange equal amounts of dough on the tray (I roll a golfball size ball in my hand and then squish it a bit on the tray). Make sure to space them apart as they will spread while baking. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown and firm. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Tastes delicious for a whole week! Enjoy while listening to I feel better by Gotye.
Use up left-over rolled oats in apple and oatmeal cookies. Use up raisins (and goji berries, cranberries…) in bread pudding or rum-raisin cookies.