Hummingbird Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

I have a friend who is 27 weeks pregnant, lets call her Hayley. She is as glamorous as she was on her wedding day and still bang on trend in her spring coloured jeans. Her perfect pins (she carries all in the front, of course!) would even make a Crayola crayon jealous. Sickening really, how does she do it? When I was 27 weeks pregnant I was already starting to resemble a certain ocean mammal and taking full advantage of the 'eating for two' scenario. What they don't tell you in the pregnancy small print (among many other things) is that once you have finished eating for two, you then have to lose the weight for two. Oh well, I might as well have another cookie...and rub some chocolate in my hair.

This recipe is from Hummingbird bakery, delicious as always. The dough expands a lot, give the cookies ample room to expand like a pregnant lady. If I am feeling naughty I leave out the raisins and add 100g chocolate chips and 100g dried sour cherries.

Ingredients

270g unsalted butter, at room temperature

160g caster sugar

160g soft dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

380g plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

110g rolled oats

220g raisins

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C. Put the butter and sugars in a bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract.

Sift together the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon in a separate bowl, add the oats and mix well. Add to the butter mixture and beat until well mixed. Stir in the raisins with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.

Arrange equal amounts of cookie dough on the prepared baking trays. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while cooking.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and firm.Check them regularly to make sure they are not burning.

When you are happy that they are cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes 20 cookies.

I did have a chuckle when I read this quote: Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant - it tends to get worse. Molly Ivins