# 12 - Cookie monsters

I think most people love cookies...

Recently rediscovered my favourite cookies - and they are almost healthy!!

From the most comprehensive cook book I own - The Joy Of Cooking, the best cookies are the classic oatmeal ones.

Right ingredients & quantities are quite important in baking so I will actually write them out!

First pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Cand grease baking sheets (I also line them with baking parchment so that I can slide all cookies off in one go for endless rounds!)

For a half size recipe - about 20 odd cookies - you need the following quantities:

125g plain flour
1/3 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (although I seem to have lost mine....)

whisk these ingredients together thoroughly

beat the following ingredients on medium speed until well blended

115g unsalted butter softened (really make sure its soft if doing by hand!)
150g light or dark brown sugar
22g sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

stir the flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in:

80g dried cranberries (original recipe says rasins, but T recommended cranberries and they work really well - any dried fruit could be substituted)
175g rolled oats

Now the recipe says drop the dough, but whenever I make it, it turns out more a roll-mixture than a drop mixture :) (think I might need to use bigger eggs, or else actually remember the vanilla extract or something?!)

Anyway drop/form in hands about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, leaving 8 cm between them on the baking sheet, press down lightly to flatten into 1 cm thick rounds

Bake 1 sheet at a time until the biscuits are lightly browned all over (turn halfway through cooking) and almost firm when pressed in the centre - 6 to 9 minutes

Remove the sheet from oven and let stand for 2 minutes until the biscuits firm slightly and then transfer to a rack to cool

When cool enough to eat, do so.

If feeling kind distribute to friends, colleagues and other cookie monsters (like PP ;P)

Else just eat :)

The Camden Road Cook