Dried Blueberry and Oat Cookies

Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook is hosting this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging and this week marks the start of spring here and soon fresh berries will be back in season, until then I'm making do with these  lovely Dried Blueberries.



These dried blueberries have an intense flavour and also contain all those wonderful nutrients that you associate with fresh blueberries. Although they have a sweet flavour they also have a slight savoury edge which makes them seem a bit more "grown up" in taste when compared to ultra sweet sultanas.

While flicking through the August edition of Good Food Magazine I stopped upon a recipe for a raisin and oat cookie and it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't made cookies in a long time. These cookies, with a few adjustments, seemed a perfect antidote to my cookie abstinence and a perfect vehicle for these lovely dried blueberries.



Dried Blueberry and Oat Cookies
Makes about 40

70 grams rolled oats
70 grams rolled spelt
50 grams shredded coconut
220 grams plain flour
140 grams slivered almonds
100 grams dried blueberries
140 grams butter, diced roughly
220 grams soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Place the oats, spelt, coconut, flour, almonds and blueberries into a large bowl and mix together until evenly distributed.

Put the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring often until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved - this should only take a few minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the soda into a small bowl and pour over the boiling water - stir to dissolve and then pour into the melted butter mixture. Stirring constantly, you'll notice a reaction occur, the mixture will lighten and start to rise a little - don't panic, keep stirring as you tip it into the oat mixture. Stir the oat mixture well until it's all moist and sticky.

To form even sized cookies, I use a small ice-cream scoop to portion the dough. I managed to get 40 scoops from the dough. Roll each scoop into a ball and flatten in your palm. Place them on a baking paper lined tray - leaving some room for the cookies to spread.

Bake in a preheated 160°C oven until golden - around 10-15 minutes. Let them sit on the tray to cool slightly before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you like your cookies chewy - cook them closer to the 10 minute mark, the longer you cook them the more crunchy they become. If you make bigger cookies then the cooking time will need to increase.