Fasting Oat Cookies with Dried Fruit

Preparation

1. Preparing the Baking Sheets

Preheat the oven to 180°C (top and bottom heat) or 165°C with convection. Line two baking sheets with parchment. The cookies bake quickly, so it is better to have both sheets ready in advance.

2. Mixing the Dough

In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, sifted flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla sugar and salt. Mix the dry ingredients well with a fork. In a separate cup or bowl, stir together the oil and maple syrup (or honey). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir with a spoon until everything is well combined — the dough has the consistency of moist granola.

3. Adding the Dried Fruit and Walnuts

Fold in the raisins, chopped walnuts and cranberries (or other dried fruit of your choice). Stir to distribute evenly. If the dough seems too dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon or two of water. If too sticky, add a handful of rolled oats.

4. Shaping the Cookies

With damp hands, take portions of dough the size of a walnut (about 30 g) and shape into balls. Space them on the baking sheet leaving 4–5 cm between each as they spread during baking. Press each ball down with your palm to a thickness of about 1 cm — the cookies do not rise like a cake, so they will stay in whatever shape you give them.

5. Baking

Bake for 13–15 minutes until the edges are golden-brown while the centre of the cookie is still slightly soft to the touch — this is fine, they will firm up as they cool. Do not over-bake as oat cookies can quickly develop a bitter flavour. If baking two sheets at once, swap their positions halfway through.

6. Cooling

Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully (they are fragile when warm) transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They only become properly crispy once fully cooled. Do not stack them in a container until completely cold.

Tips

For softer cookies: if you prefer a soft texture rather than crunchy, increase the oil by 20 ml or add a tablespoon of peanut butter (check it contains no milk).

Gluten-free: substitute the flour with buckwheat flour or a blend of chickpea and rice flour. Also check that the oats are certified gluten-free.

For children: reduce the cinnamon and add dried apricot or banana chips cut into smaller pieces. You can also dip one side of the cooled cookies in melted dark chocolate (dairy-free) — a lovely little fasting treat.

Storage: in a sealed container the cookies stay crispy for 5–7 days. You can freeze them raw (shaped into balls) and bake directly from frozen — just extend the baking time by 2–3 minutes.