Currant and Oat Biscuits

Wotchers!

*rubs hands together enthusiastically* Oh, I love a good oaty biscuit, and it struck me recently that we’ve only got two oaty biscuit recipes on the blog, which is an OUTRAGE! *bangs desk for emphasis*

So to rectify that, here we have a recipe gathered by the Los Angeles Times for their Sunday ‘Culinary SOS’ column. This column addresses the needs of people who have eaten something amazing at a particular restaurant or cafe and who, despite their best begging and wheedling, have been unable to get the owners to part with the recipe, or they just plain forgot to ask and now have these dishes haunt their dreams.

With a circulation of over a million, when the L.A.Times comes a-wheedling, people tend to be more generous in sharing their recipes. I think this is a great idea – home bakers are happy, restaurant/cafe owners happy with the free publicity and boost in business – everybody wins!

This recipe is based on one from Corner Baker, a chain of almost 150 cafes dotted across the country. I like the fact that it uses currants – smaller, sharper, less sweet and chewier than the more regularly use raisins. Needless to say, I’ve tinkered with the recipe, not least because the original quantities were HUGE and hadn’t been scaled down from a catering quantity. I used a mixture of soft brown sugar and Demerera instead of the original white sugar, but feel free to go with whatever sugar you prefer – the darker the sugar, the more toffee-like the flavour.

Currant and Oat Biscuits – Makes 30

225g plain flour
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5tsp cinnamon
3/4tsp salt
170g unsalted butter – softened
100g soft brown sugar
200g Demerera sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
180g rolled oats [1]
100g cup currants

• Preheat the oven to 160°C, 140°C Fan.
• Sift the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and set aside.
• Cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and the vanilla and mix in thoroughly.
• Gradually stir in the flour mixture, one spoonful at a time.
• Finally, fold in the oats, followed by the currants. NB: The mixture will be very stiff by the end.
• Divide the mixture into balls the size of a walnut, about a heaped tablespoon, and roll smooth.
• Lay the balls of dough onto baking sheets and press down slightly, flattening them. Leave about 5cm between biscuits to allow for spreading. This quantity of mixture will be enough for four baking sheets, so bake them in 2 batches of 2.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes, until crisp and golden. Turn the baking sheets around 180 degrees after ten minutes, to ensure even colouring. Don’t over-bake, or the cooled biscuits will be extremely hard.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Store in an airtight container.

[1] Try and get steel-cut rolled oats if possible – there’s more whole flakes and less oat dust.