OATMEAL CRUNCH COOKIES
Grandma’s mother, who hated to cook, nonetheless kept a notebook of handwritten recipes, many of them handed down from her own mother. This recipe is cryptically called “crunch” and during baking the mixture runs all over the baking sheet, browning to a giant golden wafer rather like peanut brittle. We were all set to throw it out as a failure when Leo started to nibble on the results. Scrumptious! You can eat it like a candy or transform it to delicious cookies by adding a cup of flour as suggested here.
Makes about 15 2-inch/5-cm cookies
1 cup/80 g rolled oatmeal
1 cup/125 g flour
½ cup/35 g shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping tablespoon/80 g golden syrup
2 tablespoons water
¼ cup/60 g butter
¼ cup/60 g sugar
13×18-inch/32×45-cm sheet pan or bar cookie pan
1. Heat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F and set a shelf in the centre of the oven; butter the sheet pan, line it with parchment paper and butter the paper. Stir together the oatmeal, flour, coconut and baking soda in a medium bowl. Heat the golden syrup, butter and sugar over low heat in a small pan, stirring until melted and smooth. Stir the golden syrup into the oatmeal mixture to make a rough dough that pulls from the sides of the bowl. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the sheet pan, setting them well apart. With a fork dipped in water, flatten the mounds to make 2-inch/5 cm rounds.
2. Bake the cookies in the oven until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet 2-3 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely. They can be stored, layered in paper, in an airtight container for several days.
