For the past few weeks I’ve been running a series of posts featuring authors’ favourite holiday recipes…and I can’t believe this is now my last author recipe before Christmas Day!
During the course of this run of posts I’ve sometimes had to “translate” ingredients as we don’t always use the same terminology around the world, but today I know I’ll have no problem at all – author Helen Pollard is a fellow Yorkshire woman and she lives only a few miles away. Helen’s brought a recipe for biscuits, so I’ll get the kettle on!
CHRISTMAS OAT COOKIES
by Helen Pollard
These cookies are so quick and simple to make, and they always go down a treat!
My mother tore the basic oat cookie recipe out of a magazine and gave it to me when I was in my early twenties – and I’ve been baking them ever since. There are any number of variations you can make, but this is the one I like best. Simply by adding in a swirl of fruit mincemeat, the cookies have a spicy Christmassy flavour . . . and it makes them a little gooier, too, which I love.
4 oz/100g self-raising flour
4 oz/100g rolled oats (NB: British rolled oats are quite fine, and more like porridge oats.)
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 oz/100g butter (you can use margarine, but butter is so much better!)
2 oz/50g sugar (soft brown sugar is particularly nice)
1 tbsp golden syrup (corn syrup)
1tbsp fruit mincemeat
Put the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan and heat gently until melted.
Mix the flour, oats and bicarb together.
Add the flour mixture to the melted mixture.
Stir in the fruit mincemeat.
Flatten rounded dessertspoonfuls well apart on greased baking sheets.
Bake at 180C / 350F / gas mark 4 for 10 to 15 mins until golden.
Cool for 2 mins then transfer to a cooling rack.
(Makes approx. 16)
And if the idea of these comforting cookies has made you feel like curling up with a warm drink, here’s a heartwarming romance to go with them . . .
The setting for Warm Hearts in Winter is an old stone house looking out across the beautifully bleak and wintry Yorkshire moors near Haworth. Jack and Abby take plenty of brisk winter walks, then spend their evenings in front of a real fire, getting to know each other. And there’s a hint of mystery and danger too . . .
Blurb:
Can two hearts thaw on the midwinter moors?
Forced by circumstance into the world of temping, when Abby Davis accepts an assignment in the wilds of Yorkshire as personal assistant to a widowed novelist, she assumes he is an ageing recluse.
Thirty-something Jack Blane is anything but. Still struggling to get his life and writing career back on track three years after his wife’s death, Jack isn’t ready for a breath of fresh air like Abby.
Snowed in at his winter retreat on the moors, as the weeks go by and their working relationship becomes friendship and maybe more, Abby must rethink her policy of never getting involved with someone at work … and Jack must decide whether he is willing to risk the pain of love a second time.
Buy links:
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I absolutely love the setting for Warm Hearts in Winter, Helen. The moors round Haworth look wonderful when they’re covered in snow. And what could be more romantic? Love the thought of settling down to read with a cup of tea and a plate of oat cookies! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
If you’ve enjoyed Helen’s post, or have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!
Helena Fairfax 
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