One rainy afternoon, my good friends, Miss Vic and Paul had popped over for some healthy social intercourse. They had caught me in the kitchen and I just happened to have a film crew handy. I was telling them that when I was a kid, I loved to make cookies on cold rainy days. Before I knew it, the three of us were up to our elbows in it. As the afternoon unfolded so did the comedy. This is a good recipe for kids of any age! These are really easy cookies to make and reasonably healthy, too.

- Advertisement -

Muesli Cookies (Makes about 25)

INGREDIENTS

270 g melted butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups toasted muesli
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 cup brown or raw sugar
½ cup of sesame seeds
3 eggs lightly beaten
½ cup of melted chocolate chips (optional)

METHOD
1. Melt the butter and honey in the microwave or slowly on the stove without browning.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl.
3. Beat eggs in a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Pour the butter and honey into bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.
5. When the mixture has cooled enough to touch, mix in the beaten eggs.
6. Spray an oven tray with cooking spray.
7. The mixture is a little sticky to touch, so wet your clean hands and roll into balls the size of a walnut. Place them on the greased tray 5 cm apart. Don’t flatten the balls, as they will spread in the oven.
8. Bake for approx 8-10 minutes at 200 C or until they are lightly browned on top. Be careful not to burn them because the honey makes them brown on the bottom first.
9. Cool on the tray. For added decoration or an extra touch of evil, drizzle melted chocolate (with a fork) back and forth quickly over the top of each cookie. Allow them to completely cool and then store them in an airtight container.

Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
All though these are not as healthy, this is another of my favourite recipes .It is so easy to knock together but timing is everything when you are entertaining. Guests will be seduced by memories of mum’s home baking as you pull hot gorgeous cookies out of the oven, which is much more impressive than pulling them out of a packet!

INGREDIENTS
250 g block of softened butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3.5 cups self-raising flour
1.5 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

METHOD
1. Beat butter, brown sugar, and caster sugar until smooth and creamy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla essence and beat until blended in.
3. Mix in flour, nuts and then chocolate chips last (so that they don’t discolour the dough).
4. When combined, form walnut sized balls with clean hands. Don’t worry too much if they are not perfect. Place them on a pre greased tray (oven spray) about 5cm apart.
DO NOT PRESS THE BALLS DOWN as they will spread slightly in the oven!
5. Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes at 200 C or until lightly browned. The butter content will make them spread into a ‘hump’ shape. Cool on the tray until chocolate chips go hard. If you try to remove from tray before they cool, they will break.

I also have tried this with walnut instead of macadamias and added some cocoa and a little extra butter to make double choc macadamias. When baking cookies, check the bottoms are not burning.

Steve Anderssen