crumbly, chewy and chompy christmas cookies

Makes approx 30 cookies

Everyone loves cookies. They make great Christmas gifts or why not hang them with ribbon as decorations on your tree. You can keep them sugar free by adding our little ‘pack’o’snacks’ of dried fruit and other yummy ingredients to make a real festive treat.

what you need:          

½ teaspoon baking powder
75g rolled oats
125g soft butter
A pouch of ‘The Red One’
2 teaspoons of runny honey
A few drops of vanilla essence
Several packets of ’the crumbly one’, ‘the chewy one’ or ‘the chompy one’ or a mixture of all of them

what you need to do:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/gas mark 4 and grease and line a baking sheet with baking parchment (you may need a couple of sheets), ready for your cookies.
2. You can then measure out the flour, baking powder and rolled oats and put them into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter together with the pouch of ‘The Red One’, the honey and vanilla essence until nice and creamy.
4. Then beat in the flour, baking powder and oat mixture and fold in all the yummy bits of fruit from your ‘pack’o’snacks’ pyramids.
5. Roll dessertspoonfuls of cookie mixture into balls with your hands. Then place them on your prepared baking sheet and squish the balls flat. You could use cookie cutters, or a sharp knife, to make them into holly, star or other festive shapes.
6. If you want to make the cookies into tree decorations, try cutting a wooden skewer stick into a few pieces and poke one into each cookie near the top to make the hole for the ribbon to go through. Keep the skewers in the cookies while they bake in the oven.
7. Cook for about 15 minutes. They will be ready when they are a pale gold colour but still soft and squidgy. Take them out of the oven and leave the sheet on a cool surface for about 5 minutes so the cookies can harden a bit. Then lift them off with a spatula and place them on a wire rack to cool fully - if you can wait that long before popping one into your, and your little ones, mouths!

cooking time:          approx 15 minutes