My Mother recently gave me her old hand written recipe for peanut butter and rolled oat cookies that has to be at least thirty-five years old. It’s covered in stains and has yellowed with age.
My sister and I used to love getting home from school to eat a couple of these biscuits – crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle – while watching TV with an ice cold glass of Milo. As my three year old is currently insisting on eating peanut butter on toast for breakfast each morning (her eating habits are driving me crazy at the moment), I thought sharing this childhood memory with her was a good idea. I’ve tweaked the recipe slightly (I always do) but it essentially tastes and looks the same.
Ingredients
- 100g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter @ room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 tblsp peanut butter (I like it crunchy)
- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a mixer, then add the egg and peanut butter. Add the sifted flour and salt and mix thoroughly, then add the rolled oats and mix again.
At this stage you could hand roll the dough in to small balls and pop them in the oven, but Mum always made rolled logs. So I rolled the dough in to logs and wrapped them in cling wrap and popped them in the fridge for 30 minutes (you could even freeze one of the logs to use when unexpected guests arrive).
Once the logs have chilled, remove the cling wrap and slice in to 1cm (just under 1/2 inch) discs. Bake for 20 minutes until they are slightly browned on top. Cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee (or even a cup of Milo).
