"TOTES OATY" CHEWY CHOCCY COOKIES

After the success of my "Honey Honey" biccies the other day I thought I'd have a go at making more to serve with my "Fancy Dancy" Raspberry Mousse. Now I love chocolate (then again who doesn't?) and I also love oats, my go to recipe for any occasion are my Fab And Fast Flapjacks, they always go down a treat. So I thought why not combine the two and that is exactly what I have done these beautifully chewy chocolate chip cookies. Great with my mousse, with a cup of tea or even as a breakfasty treat on the weekend.

This recipe will make either 12 large cookies or around 20 smaller bite sized niblets and if you prefer you can use milk or white chocolate instead of dark however I think the bitterness of dark always works best when it comes to baking.

Whatever chocolate you use I recommend you put quite big chunks of chocolate into the mix rather than using actual chocolate chips. This recipe uses 150g of chocolate. Chop half of the chocolate into tiny bits so the chocolate melts through the cookie. You know how a bar of baking chocolate is split into little squares? You should chop the second half of the chocolate into these squares and then half each square again. This may look like big chunks but when its baked in the cookies you'll not only get a fantastic burst of chocolate flavor but also a nice bite which, in contrast to the chewiness of the cookie is an extra texture sensation that really takes them to a different level.

Most importantly they are uber simple to make and ideal for getting the kids involved in the kitchen on a wet weekend. But even if it's a warm summers evening, they will take less then an hour to make so you bake a batch in the morning and enjoy a freshly baked treat in your garden without spending all day in the kitchen. 

Sounds like a plan doesn't it!

Oaty Chocolate Chip Cookies

150g Soft Butter

150g Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

80g Sifted Plain Flour

25g Cocoa Powder

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 Tsp Baking Powder

185g Oats

150g Dark Chocolate (Chopped As Described Above)

1. Get that oven on folks. This time it's 180 degrees (170 fan)
2. Add your butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy before cracking in the egg and the vanilla extract and beating further until well combined.
3. In a second bowl, add in the rest of the ingredients apart from the chopped chocolate and mix together until everything is combined and then tip into the bowl with the creamed sugar. Gently fold inthe flour mix until you see no streaks of flour in the bowl. Once fully combined, fold through the chopped chocolate until evenly distributed.
4. Line two baking trays with grease proof paper and spray lightly with some spray oil. Scoop a large heaped tablespoon of the batter and place on the tray. Press down the batter to flatten the top a little
5. Repeat, spacing the blobs are batter about 3cm apart from each other as they will spread when in the oven. Place the trays in the oven on the same shelf in the middle of the oven (if you can't, bake in batches) to ensure an even bake. Bake for 15 minutes. The cookies should be golden and starting to crisp slightly around the outside.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for around ten minutes until transferring to a wire rack.

 As the cookies cool on the wire rack they will firm up .Until this point they are very fragile so be super careful if you pick them up that they don't break apart.

 Beautiful on their own, with a cup of tea or served or even a glass of champers you will absolutely love these chewy delights. Don't leave them lying around for too long though or you might find them magically disappearing from that wire rack.

If your cookies do crumble though do not despair as all is not lost. I'll admit to you that some of mine didn't come out too well. I put the broken pieces in a bowl inside the fridge and after an our or so they were firm enough to crumble into little pieces. Sprinkled over the top of my little mousse's like a crumble topping really makes those little tea cups pop. You might even want to break a few on purpose for this purpose.

I won't tell anyone, we'll blame the cookie fairies!