These cookies remind me of the top of a muffin: lightly crispy on the outside yet with a fluffy cake texture inside.
I’m flavouring these cookies with pumpkin spice, a very popular spice mix from the US. You can make it yourself or just swap it for cinnamon. Add to that brandy-soaked raisins, nuts and a maple syrup icing, and you’ve got yourself the perfect autumnal treat!
50g raisins
1 tbsp brandy or rum
160g fine oats
180g flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp Anne’s Sweet Spice or cinnamon
120g butter, soft
155g dark brown sugar
50g sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
240g smooth apple compote
100g nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds)
For the icing:
3 tbsp maple syrup
80g icing sugar
Makes 24
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan.
Soak the raisins in the brandy, popping them in the microwave for ½ min at 800W to warm them up. Alternatively, soak the raisins in brandy overnight.
In a bowl, mix the oats, flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
Cream together the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla essence in a large mixing bowl. Add the apple compote, then fold in the dry ingredients.
Roughly chop the nuts and fold into the batter with the raisins.
Put 1 heaped tablespoon of batter per cookie on a baking tray lined with baking paper, spacing out the cookies 3cm apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes until nicely browned.
Put on a wire rack to cool.
Once cool, make an icing by mixing the maple syrup with the icing sugar and drizzle over the cookies. Leave to set.
These keep in a tin for a week.
