Delicious Buttery Raisin Cookies Recipe

There is nothing as scrumptious as a homemade cookie, these are buttery, light mouthfuls of deliciousness, with fat juicy raisins, one of your five a day? Only if you eat the whole batch I would imagine, but these are so yummy I can easily see that happening.

I would rather have 2 of these gorgeous cookies with some milk or a strong frothy cup of coffee instead of a handful of packet biscuits full of additives and ingredients that really only belong in a science laboratory and not in your mouth, and more importantly not in my children's bodies. I like to know what's in my food and if you've looked at the labels on some of the packets of cookies/ biscuits I've found that I don't know what half of the ingredients are. This recipe takes only a few basic ingredients pulled quickly together and they taste much better than any packet ones I've tasted.

The ingredients take barely 5 minutes to whizz together and then 10 minutes in the oven, your house will smell incredible and your family will be delighted. Depending on what size you make your cookies you should easily get at least 24 cookies, enough to fill your cookie jar to overflowing, if they last that long, or perfect for the school fete.

Go on treat your family to a special little treat!

4oz / 113g Unsalted Butter

6oz / 170g Caster Sugar

1 Large Free Range Egg

7oz / 198g Self Raising Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

5oz / 141g Raisins

• Pre-heat your oven to 190ºC / 375ºF / Gas Mark 5.

• Line two shallow baking trays with greaseproof paper.

• Place your Butter and Caster Sugar into a large bowl or if you're lucky enough your food processor and gently cream these together until the colour and texture changes to a pale creamy mixture which will only take a few minutes.

• Add the Free Range Egg and whisk lightly.

• Add a level teaspoon of Baking Powder.

• Now sift the 7oz of Self Raising Flour into the bowl and using a wooden spoon beat until all the flour has been incorporated into the mixture.

• And finally stir in those glossy little vitamin-packed Raisins.

That's it, five minutes of your time and now all you have to do is bake them:

• Using a spoon or small ice-cream scoop arrange 6 dollops of cookie dough on each sheet of greaseproof paper. Remember this mixture will spread so 6 is about the right amount so that they don't run into one another.

• Now bake your cookies for about 10 minutes, oven temperatures aren't always exact so I would keep an eye on the first batch and see if you need to adjust your timing, you're aiming for a light golden colour that way they will be soft in the middle and perfectly crisp to bite into.

• When you take them out they will be very soft so transfer them still on the paper to a wire cooling rack and leave for 2-3 minutes.

• Once they start to harden you can remove them from the paper using a fish slice or spatula onto the wire rack to finish cooling.

• Continue doing this until you use up all your cookie dough.

Eileen's Tip:

You can of course bake a smaller batch of cookies and freeze the rest of the dough for using at a later date, just add a couple of more minutes to the cooking time if cooking them straight from the freezer. Or make twice the amount and freeze a batch. This also makes a great Christmas or birthday gift, wrap the frozen dough like a little cracker and add a label telling the lucky recipient how to bake the cookies.