Melbourne in January is the same as how it is at Easter......a ghost town. I'm just waiting for a tumbleweed to roll past me down the street, its so quiet! Well, except for this morning, it seemed every mom and/or dad in my hood got the memo to take their kid(s) to the park and every child got the memo to have Monday-itis. Let's just say there were a few Claire Danes impressions going on (Claire Danes has the best wobble chin cry face EVER. If you watch Homeland then you know what I mean. Her and her wobble chin are THE BEST, I love her.) If only I had a batch of these cookies to give to all the kids & their parents.....these biscuits are THE BEST! They would stop a wobble chin in its tracks!
Clémentine loved rolling the mixture, and eating it too! We made these over Christmas with the left over cranberries I had from this recipe. They keep forever! at least a week, due to no egg in the mixture and being similar to an Anzac. I got the idea from one of my favorite places on earth, Bourke Street Bakery, not only is their teeny tiny bakery in Surry Hills super scrumptious (I know they have other stores but this one is my fav), their cookbook is aaaaaamazeballs! It's one of my favourite cookbooks to not only bake from but to read. I love cookbooks that you can grab off the shelf, cuppa in hand and flip though the pages for hours, not wanting to put it down. But then you have to, because you don't have hours to spare no more....cue: Claire Danes wobble face. Wah!
I have used blackstrap molasses as well as an agave and maple syrup blend that I buy from our local health food store. If you do not have blackstrap molasses and don't want to buy t for the small amount that is used in this recipe then you could substitute it for all maple, or an agave and maple syrup combo. But if you are willing to buy a jar then you can also make this delicious cake. Blackstrap molasses is great for you health and its also great when making homemade baked beans, add a teaspoon or two at the end of the cooking time- yum!
We had these for, you guessed it morning tea! We munched on them while we played a game of ladybird skittles, Clémentine loved knocking down the ladybirds and also loved picking out the dried cranberries and eating them first of course!
As mentioned above this recipe is very similar to an Anzac biscuit recipe where you heat the butter and syrup then bicarb and water, use a saucepan that is small-medium as it will foam up! Also it will look like a lot of liquid, I was surprised that the dry mix soaked it all up. Your mixture will be sticky and quite damp, you could hold a bit of the wet mixture back, but you should be fine using it all. If you feel like your mixture is too dry then you can use the soaking water from the dried cranberries. Just a long as the balls of dough hold their shape, then you're good to go!
OAT AND CRANBERRY BISCUITS
Adapted from Bourke Street Bakery
Makes about two dozen kid sized biscuits
165 grams rolled oats
220 grams plain flour
150 grams agave and maple syrup
30 grams dried cranberries
45 ml boiling water
185 grams unsalted butter
50 grams blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
60 ml water
Preheat oven to 170°C.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and oats
Place the cranberries in a separate small bowl and pour in the boiling water and set aside.
Melt the butter, syrup and molasses in a small - medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat once melted and with a slotted spoon add the cranberries.
Combine the bicarbonate of soda with the water and stir it into the saucepan.
While it’s still foaming, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon.
Take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball then place it on to a baking tray that is lined with baking paper
Press the biscuit mixture with the palm of your hand so it flattens down (you can press the balls of dough down really flat if you like so you get a thin chewy biscuit, I pressed down only slightly so they were easy for little hands to hold.)
Repeat with the rest of the mixture and bake for about approximately 15 minutes
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on the tray before moving to a wire rack.
They will crisp up when they cool.
Store these biscuits in an airtight container for up to a week.
You could also roll the balls and flash freeze them for another day.
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