I'm taking a te reo Maaori course! It's awesome. I mean, I am hopelessly out of my depth, but I'm also learning a lot about Maaori culture and worldview, which is very exciting!

Anyway, the instructor suggested that folks might want to bring some biscuits or something to have during the break (since it's a 3-hour evening class). Since I had the oven on for polenta anyway, I decided to whip up a quick batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies to take and share with the class.

I used a slightly modified version of the recipe from Dessert of the Day for these. The only real change I made was to reduce the sugar. One-and-a-half cups sounded like way too much to me! In the end, I decided to put in the full cup of brown sugar, but omit the half cup of granulated sugar that the recipe called for. And, honestly, I probably could've cut the brown sugar back slightly as well. I mean, they were prefectly tasty this way, but I definitely wouldn't've wanted them any sweeter and I think they still would've been just fine with a little less sugar. So, follow your heart on this one. I'd say anything in the 3/4 c. to 1 c. range is probably good.

I also omitted the salt since I was using salted butter rather than the unsalted that the recipe called for. Obviously that's something that you can adjust as you see fit depending on your personal preference and the ingredients you have to hand. It's not super critical either way.

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 180g flour
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground (optional)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 1/2 c. raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. Beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in the vanilla.
5. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, salt (if using), and baking powder and stir to combine.
6. Mix in the oats, followed by the raisins.
7. Spoon onto the prepared baking sheet. (Should make ~2 dozen cookies.)
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until set, but still soft (12-15 minutes).
9. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.