Sugar Free

I have this problem with reading recipes. Each time I start with the best intentions, ready to measure our my ingredients in little bowls and carefully weigh my flours and butter right to the gram. 

Every single time, at some point in the process of gathering ingredients and putting them in some sort of order, I go some sort of crazy and start adding whatever I fancy. Yesterday I decided that no matter what, I would follow a recipe from start to finish slowly, and methodically. 

It seemed a good start to pick a recipe I had all the ingredients for, and these oat cookies from the blog Pastry Affair looked so easy and yummy. As I was very smugly pulling my perfectly followed cookies out of the oven I noticed that the sultanas had somehow been replaced with half dried cherries and half dried apricots. The chocolate chips were mysteriously large chocolate chunks, and there were twice as many as I remember the recipe needed…

The point is I tried this time! I had a real hard time mixing the oats and extras into the creamed butter and vanilla. If you are a dainty and meticulous baker, I’m sorry you have to read this, but I used my hands to meld everything together. Guilty! But they tasted amazing anyway (I ate the biggest one whilst writing this) And with no added sugar, I felt quite nutritious at the same time. 

Chocolate, Sultana and Oat Cookies: Adapted from Pastry Affair

2 cups each rolled oats, chocolate chunks, sultanas

210 grams (1 cup) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

225 grams (2 sticks, 8 ounces, 1/2 pound) salted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Cream the butter and vanilla until soft. Add each egg and mix until combined. Stir in the oats, fruit and chocolate and shape into large balls, either with a measuring cup or by hand. Bake for 12-17 minutes until golden on top. Allow to cool completely before moving or eating.