Oatmeal Christmas cookies

When I was a kid one of the things I used to love doing was rooting through the presses in my parents kitchen. I would always find chocolate chips, glacé cherries and different nuts that my mom used in baking. There was only the one jar that I tasted something out of once and then never went back to. That was the jar that contained crystalised stem ginger.

Ginger has such an odd earthy taste to it, sweet and hot and not at all to the likings of my very junior tastebuds at the time, but something that I use quite a lot in cooking asian food now. It was only recently chewing on an aerlingus cookie on the way to New York that I realised I had never used it in baking.

This recipe is a slightly modified version of the Oatmeal and Raisin cookies in Rachel Allens book Bake (a book I would definitely recommend if you have even the slightest of sweet teeth).

Oatmeal Ginger Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

• 4oz soft butter
• 4oz caster sugar
• 4oz soft light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 heaped teaspoon ginger
• 9oz porridge oats
• 4oz self-raising flour
• 1tsp salt
• 1oz finely chopped crystalised stem ginger
• 3oz dried cranberries (I bought a mix of cranberries and macadamias so it was about 1oz macadamia, 2 oz cranberries)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4
2. Cream the butter until soft, if you have a mixer use it, otherwise you will end up with guns of steel (like me - Santa is bringing me a mixer this year I hope)
3. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy
4. Add the egg and water and continue beating
5. Mix in the flour, salt, ginger, oats, cranberries and stem ginger and mix well until a dough is formed
6. Using a small ice-cream scoop or your hands, make little balls on 2 baking trays (should make about 30 cookies)
7. Bake for about 15 minutes until light golden brown and slightly soft in the middle