Apple & Oatmeal Cookies

These apple & oatmeal cookies are a fantastic variation on the more classic oatmeal cookie.The use of two types of sugar keeps the cookies light but still golden, while the use of cinnamon and crispy and sweet Granny Smith apples lends a delicious background flavour. Depending on how long you leave them in the oven, you can end up with lightly golden, cake-like cookies, or else crisp and crunchy. The choice is yours.

Chocolate drizzle on top is optional! This recipe makes about 10-12 cookies.

Ingredients

135g butter, softened

80g castor sugar

80g light brown sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 teasp vanilla essence

190g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 Granny Smith apples

60g rolled oats

Preheat oven to 170 Celsius and prepare a baking sheet.

Cream the butter and two types of sugar together, until light and fluffy. As always, the more time you spend on this, the better the end result will be.Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat well until incorporated. 

Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon & baking soda and mix into the batter in two stages. At this stage a light dough should have formed.

Now for the good stuff. Peel and finely grate the apples. Squeeze all the liquid from the apple pulp and add the apple pulp to the dough, along with the rolled oats. Stir in by hand.

Using a spoon (I think a dessertspoon gives the best results), place rounded measures (or balls) of the dough on the banking sheets, making sure to leave plenty of space for expansion while cooking. 

Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the desired end result. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for about 10 minutes, before tranferring to a wire rack to cool completely.