Chocolate, Orange and Hazelnut Oatmeal Cookies by A PlayFul Day
Recently we had the pleasure of welcoming Kate, a writer, photographer, recipe developer and author of the brilliant blog ‘A Playful Day’ into our Gate House. Every guest’s experience is unique, and hearing little snippets and stories into the world they create while with us is always fascinating. Kate has been using the Gate House as a shoot location for her magazine articles and she’s kindly shared one of the recipes she created for Knit Now magazine with us. Perfect for slow, cosy afternoons while staying with us, or simple weekend baking at home.
A Slow Moment
“Curled up in the Deans Court Gate House, you will find an afternoon of quiet crafting, the kind where you let the cookies cool on the side while you learn a new stitch pattern and have Radio 4 on for company. These are the afternoons I find myself living for during the frantic pace of the week with school letters to be signed and my email notifications providing a constant soundtrack to my day. These orange, chocolate and hazelnut oatmeal cookies are the perfect accompaniment to such afternoons. Make a batch in the morning and enjoy the smell, taste and comfort they bring all weekend long.”
Ingredients
- 175g/ 6oz butter
- 275g/ 9 ½ oz Demerara sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 4 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 350g/ 13 oz rolled oats (the less processed the better)
- 140 g/ 5 oz plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 100g Terry’s Chocolate Orange, chopped
- 55g Hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Method
- Preheat oven to 180®c/ gas mark 4 and grease large baking sheet.
- Cream butter and sugar together before beating in the egg, water, and vanilla essence.
- In a separate bowl, mix oats, flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda before gradually stirring this into the butter mixture.
- Once fully combined, fold in the chocolate chunks and hazelnuts.
- This mixture makes about 30 biscuits but I like mine a bit bigger and soft in the centre so I prefer to make about 20 rounded spoonfuls.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until cookies are golden brown.
- Leave to cool and firm up a little- you want them to still be a little on the squidgy side when you first take them out the oven.
- Enjoy with your favourite tea, friends and a little knitting.
