I’m not sure I can deal with not having the keys to our new house, it’s beginning to feel like it might never happen, which would be a crying shame because my gold cord couch would be homeless. As would we. But the couch is really cool and deserves a forever home.

Speaking of which, Alberto has gone to his forever home too. He was the most beautiful pointer. Pure white but for a black patch over one eye. I wasn’t allowed to get him. Sigh.

Anyway, I plod on through my cupboards nonetheless. Jumbo oats, plain flour and raisins are on my hitlist this week. Oat and raisin biscuits seemed like the obvious and comfortable choice. For something jazzier, come visit next week when I think I might be posting about a strawberry marshmallow mousse thanks to my (technically unofficial) brother-in-law and his dedication to the soft fruit of Meath.

Back to the biscuits/cookies. They are happy little things, the original recipe was stolen from BBC GoodFood, once more, with only a few alterations due to my stocks. They are a bit chewy, a bit fruity, a bit spicy and will make your day better, even if only for a minute.

Actually, I have to highlight the lie that GoodFood tell. 25 biscuits? 25 biscuits my arse. It comfortably made 40 perfectly generous sized biscuits but you’ll eat them all or can give some to a friend if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Oven temperature 180 Celsius

Raisins                                100g

Groundnut oil (feel free to use vegetable)    150ml

Light muscavado            200g

Egg                                       1

Vanilla extract                  1 teaspoon

Ground cinnamon          1 generous teaspoon

Ground nutmeg               a big pinch

Flour – the original recipe says 140g of plain flour but I used about 50g of spelt and 90 of self raising but sure use 140g of whatever you have

Bicarbonate of soda          1/2 teaspoon

Jumbo oats                           300g

Put your raisins in a jug and pour over 50ml of boiling water. Let them plump up for, ideally 20mins, but as long as it takes you to turn on the oven and line the baking trays should be sufficient.

In a separate bowl beat the oil, sugar, egg and vanilla together till nicely combined.

In another bowl measure out the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and soda and stir them altogether before tipping them into the sugary-oily-eggy mix.

Beat.

Drain the raisins and add the liquid into the mix and beat some more.

Throw in the oats and raisins and stir again.

It’ll be a bit of a sticky mess but that’s fine. Get two teaspoons and dole out the mixture onto the baking trays, leaving lots of space between them. I got about 8 on a tray.

Bake for 12mins in total, turning the trays around after about 8mins to make sure everything bakes evenly.

Due to the quantity you’ll need to bake them in batches.

When they’re perfectly cooked remove them from the oven but leave them to cool for a few minutes on their trays before carefully transferring them to a cooling wrack.

They go very well with a second biscuit and a hug.