Prunes Honey Oat Cookies (Eggless)

Well, my obsession for prunes has not ended yet. Though the next recipe on the agenda called for Hazelnuts and Oat Cookies, I failed to find any good quality hazelnuts in the part of the city where I live, so substituted them with prunes instead!

I do have a few hazelnut recipes coming up soon, hence I'm still on the look out for a great place where I can find them. Will make those recipes once I have acquired some quality hazelnuts. Quality ingredients are a necessity!!

Though these cookies called for 1 egg, I simply substituted it with 2 tsps of baking powder whisked in oil and and water. You may add an egg instead if you like. My vegetarian loved ones were not happy that I would add eggs in all my recipes. So these cookies had to go eggless- just for them!

(Makes about 18-20 cookies)

Ingredients:

• 100g prunes, chopped
• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g granulated sugar 
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 125g self raising flour, sifted
• 125g porridge oats
• a pinch of salt
• a little milk, if needed

Method:

1. Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and whisk them. Cream them together until the mixture become fluffy.
   
2. Mix water and oil  in a small bowl and add baking powder to it. Whisk it and you will see the fermentation process kick started immediately. Add this mix quickly into the wet mixture along with honey and vanilla extract. Whisk it all for a few more minutes, until thoroughly combined. 
   
3. Take the sifted flour in a separate bowl; add in the oats, salt and the chopped prunes and combine it well. Add them gradually to the wet mixture, taking a little at a time. The cookie dough must be soft enough to shape them. If it feels too stiff, add a little milk or flour if it is too sticky.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Line the baking tray with parchment paper (It is easily available at a stationery shop a.k.a butter paper).
5. Now make small bite sized molds and roll them up. Flatten them slightly and place them on the baking tray, keeping adequate distance between them as they would spread and grow in size upon baking.
   
6. Bake them for 15-20 minutes. Once you see that the sides are slightly golden brown, remove them using a pallete knife and place them on a wire rack to cool down.
   
7. The perfect cookies should be golden brown on the sides and light and chewy in the center with a soft crunchiness of the oats.

If you feel that your cookies are pretty hard after cooling, don't worry you have not ruined them. Simply store them in a container with a slice of bread. By next day the cookies would be perfect to bite into! Change the bread every day.

But if you want an immediate solution, microwave them along with a bowl of water kept on the side and you may have it like that as well, though its crunchiness will disappear!