Cracking cookies...

I love baking... so satisfying and you get so much gratitude for a little bit of measuring and mixing.  

I made cookies last week but they flopped.  Not so satisfying. They merged together in a most annoying way and didn't have that satisfying snap when you bit into them. The boys loved them regardless (see? gratitude) but I wanted them to be better.

Then I watched Ina the next day and she had almost the same cookie recipe with a few tweaks and this one worked.  She's a genius or maybe I was just paying more attention... 

Ina's raisin and pecan nut cookies. 

• 1 1/2 cups pecans roasted and chopped
• 130g unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 extra large eggs at room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tspn baking powder
• 1 tspn ground cinnamon
• 1 tspn salt
• 3 cups rolled oats or oatmeal 
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

Beat the softened butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix together. Then add the oats, raisins and chopped pecans.

Spoon on to a baking tray using a tablespoon or as Ina helpfully suggests an ice cream scoop. Bake for 12-ish minutes until they look like they should. Cool on a baking rack.

Lovely. Roasted pecans for a bit of crunch but nothing a two year old would choke on. A touch of cinnamon but not enough to turn off a five year old. A little too nice perhaps. I had to quickly put them in the freezer for school lunches so that I wouldn't eat them all...

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By the way the secret to my success might have been this new gismo that my mother kindly gave me a few weeks ago. I love it! Thanks Mum. x