Method
With just four ingredients, these cookies are simplicity itself, but none the worse for that. What makes them so irresistible is the way the chewy raisins burst through the oats, which have a lovely, almost buttery, crunch. Serve with a glass of milk for a perfect mid-morning pick-me-up.
Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Lightly oil a couple of baking sheets with a little sunflower oil.
Place the oats and half the raisins in a food processor. Pulse until you have a mixture with the texture of breadcrumbs. Add the oil and measurement boiling water and continue to pulse until everything comes together as a
soft dough. Stir in the remaining raisins, then let the dough sit and absorb the moisture for a couple of minutes.
Roll out the dough on a worktop well dusted with flour to a thickness of 5mm ( ¼ inch). Use a 6cm (2 ½ -inch) round cookie cutter to cut out rounds, rerolling the trimmings as necessary, until you have used up all
the dough. Place the dough rounds on the baking sheets.
Bake for 45 minutes until the cookies are golden brown, then switch the oven off and leave the cookies in the oven for a further 20 minutes until they have become completely hard. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin. They will keep for up to a week.
Make them gluten-free
You can make a gluten-free version of these cookies by using gluten-free oats and dusting your worktop with cornflour when rolling out.
Sensationally Sugar Free by Susanna Booth, published by Hamlyn, £20 www.octopusbooks.co.uk
For more delicious cakes and biscuits, visit our baking recipe collection.