I would like to start a campaign for more appropriate bakery treats in cafes. Down with softball-sized, too-sweet carbowad muffins; down with oily danishes and elderly chocolate croissants; down with those stupid dry melting moment biscuits every cafe has in a jar by the coffee machine that no one buys because they are gross. I would like small cakes, little slices, dainty brownies, and big, moist cookies.
I like to think a cookie is a different beast to the Australian biscuit. A biscuit comes in an Arnotts Assorted and is pleasantly sturdy, stiff, good for dipping in your tea. A cookie is buttery, chewy, dropped rather than rolled and cut, and it has cinnamon and vanilla in it because I say so. Cookies are ridiculously easy to make and I don't know why I don't do it all the time.
Really, there's not much else to say about these pecan and raisin cookies, other than they're the kind of thing I wish I could buy with my coffee of a morning, and that they are cookies and not biscuits. Oh, and that I've no idea what the difference is between a raisin and a sultana. Sultanas are paler? Australian? The gross version of a raisin, which in my limited dried fruit experience is darker, sweeter and more fragrant? Anyway, in these cookies I used a dried fruit marked as a raisin by one of the bulk dry goods sellers at the Vic Markets. I once made a Nigella Lawson recipe where she soaked her raisins in a cup of tea before using them, and it makes such a difference I've been doing it ever since.
Oatmeal, raisin and pecan cookies
Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake. Makes ~12
110g butter, softened
A large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup flour (I used wholemeal for nuttiness)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Make a cup of tea - I really like your Earl or Lady Grey to bring out the fruitiness in the raisins - and put your raisins in to soak. Set aside. Toast the pecans in a hot dry pan for a few minutes until fragrant, then set aside to cool.
Cream your butter and sugars together. Pro tip - if your butter is very hard, rinse a glass or ceramic bowl with boiling water then invert it over the butter. Within a few minutes it'll be the perfect texture. Add the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, then fold into the butter mixture. Chop the walnuts coarsely and add to the dough, followed by the drained raisins and oats.
Scoop the dough out into large mounds on a baking paper lined tray. I used a standard ice cream scoop. Press down with moistened hands, and don't be afraid to crowd them in as they really won't spread much. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned by still a little soft. Transfer to a rack to cool, and wonder who exactly buys all those melting moments.