These thin and crispy oat cookies are one of those tastes from my childhood that take me straight back to my cousin’s farmhouse kitchen! Half-way between a flapjack and a brandy snap in texture, boxes of them would be laid in ready for my arrival (along with a kilo sack of delicious ristede løg (crispy fried onions) which I used to eat on rye bread with dripping and Marmite, to everyone’s horror).
You may well know these biscuits from the IKEA food shop too, where they are sold in huge packs ready for dipping in a hot cup of tea at your leisure; my version can either be left as single cookies, drizzled in chocolate, or sandwiched together with extra chocolate to make a more sumptuous snack. The mixture is very easily customised too; omit the almond essence and add the grated zest of an orange for a little citrussy twist, or 1-2 teaspoons of ground ginger for a spicier treat.
Ingredients (makes 32 single cookies or 16 sandwiched together)
150g caster sugar
100g butter
100g oats
30g plain flour
1 egg
1tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
A few drops of almond essence (optional)
For the topping/filling
75/150g dark chocolate
1 teaspoon/tablespoon of coconut oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
- Slowly melt the butter in a large pan and then allow to cool
- Add the sugar and egg and beat well, before tipping in the flour, baking powder, oats, salt and almond essence if using it, then stir thoroughly to combine.
- Spoon eight little balls of mixture on to each sheet; I would say that about 2/3 of a teaspoon is about the right amount as they will spread much further than you think. (Try and poke any sticky-out bits back in so they bake into a nice round shape).
- Pop them in the middle shelves of the oven for between 5 and 6 minutes. I tend to check them at the 5 minute mark then give them a little extra as they will burn quite easily; you are aiming for a nice golden colour.
- Leave them on the side for a couple of minutes to cool before sliding the baking paper off on to your work top; they will harden as they cool down.
- Re-line the baking sheets with greaseproof paper and repeat with rest of the mixture to give you 32 cookies.
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water. If you just want to drizzle chocolate over the top, you will only need 75g chocolate and 1 teaspoon oil; dip the tines of a fork into the melted chocolate, wait a couple of seconds for any big blobs to drop off and then use to dribble lines of glossy chocolate over the top of your beautiful biscuits.
- If you’d like to sandwich them together you will need 150g of chocolate and 1 tablespoon of oil (the oil is not entirely necessary but makes the chocolate a little easier to work with!). Using a pastry brush, paint the base of a cookie with a generous layer of chocolate before sandwiching on a second biscuit; allow to set on a wire rack before enjoying with a nice cup of tea!
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