Mandarin Orange, Cranberry & Oatmeal Cookies
Oh my goodness- here I am, trying to keep my meals lean and to satisfy my sweet tooth at the same time again... but it is Sunday morning and I feel like a little treat already!
So, without sinning and with a little bit of cunning- I transformed what would have been a simple bowl of oatmeal, into some delicious little cookies instead! Oh- and they tasted great with the milk I would have needed to have boiled up the oatmeal too- haha!
If you love orange marmalade, then these cookies will be a real treat! They have that great, tangy, chewy and sweet flavor and texture, but are healthy at the same time as they don't have all of that sugar content- which is a pretty cool thing if you ask me! In fact, this whole batch of cookies probably has less butter and sugar in it that one slice of buttered toast with marmalade... word!
My ingredients were, about 1 coffee mug full of oatmeal, 1 mandarin orange, about 1 teaspoon of butter, a little cinnamon and honey to sweeten (which was just 2 tablespoons of honey for these 12 little cookies) ... and that was all! You really do not need the excesses of butter and sugar that most cookie recipes quote- but you will never find out if you never start trying!
These are obviously VERY fruity tasting, and using the whole of the mandarin gives a lot of juice and texture, which combined with the cranberries and just a little honey, gives you all of the sweetness that you need.
The nutty flavor of the oatmeal and the crusty and chewy texture make these perfect... nothing groundbreaking of course, but just good, fun and healthy snack-time eating... and what more could you want than that?
I chopped the cranberries as they would otherwise have been much too large for the cookies and chopped the mandarin into chunks- this makes it easy to remove pips if there are any and also for the blender to do it's work... which is the next step!
Blend everything together into a nice, smooth mass like this and you are ready to go!
Simply melt the butter and honey under a gentle heat.
Now add the mandarin pulp and the cranberries.
Add the oatmeal and cinnamon and start stirring... at this point you can turn off the heat- that's all there was to it!
Make sure every last bit of juice, butter and honey has been soaked up and press together. Allow to cool and in the meantime heat up the oven to 180°C.
I made small cookies, just 1 tablespoon of oatmeal-mix at a time- but you can make yours as large as you like. Press them down firmly, as the mixture is rather loose, but they will be ok if you do so- there is enough moisture there to bind them and you don't have to have all the excess butter and honey that everyone else adds.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C until they are toasty and golden brown... and the kitchen is filled with a lovely, marmalade-y aroma!
Simple and delicious- which is all that a cookie needs to be- right?
A great idea for something to do on a cold Sunday morning- and to enjoy at whatever time you like! Needless to say- mine didn't last long!
I can't see your pictures :(.
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