I've just been asked by a friend to do some catering in a couple of weeks time and I'm in full research and baking mode! Probably went a bit crazy with the post its today, there's no way I can bake everything I've marked up but well, here's to trying!
To be honest, there's a real art to coming up with a menu and it's actually really hard work! The catering I'm doing is for an afternoon function for 150 people, mainly adults. There's one of me and only one oven and I have just under 2 weeks. I'm extremely grateful to have an aunt just as crazy as me who's offered to be my sidekick; hopefully between the two of us we'll get it happening.
And the catering couldn't have come with any better timing. I've just been testing out a few new recipes at home, including this recipe for Classic Oat cookies. You know what, I think this whole catering thing is going to be ok!
The following recipe has been adapted from Linda Collister's 'Cakes & Bakes'.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place 115g softened unsalted butter, 140g brown sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1 tbsp milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a bowl and beat well using an electric mixer.
Add 100g self raising flour, 75 dried fruit (I used half cranberries, half sultanas) and 150g rolled oats.
Mix well with a spatula.
Put heaped spoons of dough onto the prepared baking trays, spacing them well apart.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
This recipe would fall in the category of 'healthier baking' which I'm starting to do more of. There's still quite a bit of sugar in this which I reckon you can reduce by at least a third and still get the same result but on the whole, this cookie is a biteful of goodness with the oats and dried fruits. Once these cookies have cooled, they are great to munch on so try not to get too carried away. Unfortunately, they don't seem to keep very well - they had softened by the next day so try to get people to eat them on the day they're baked.
At this stage, I'll probably leave this one out for the catering. And well, more baking posts to follow!
6 comments:
They look great. Best of luck on the catering project - you're very brave to take up a 150 person event! Looking forward to see some of the behind-the-scenes experimentation here.
I'm sure you'll do fine with the catering :)
Sometimes I find its better to turn the oven temperature down to about 160 degrees for really dense oat cookies and then cook them for longer.
Helps them to keep better and cook all the way through.
Good luck with the event. It all sounds exciting!
They look yum! I love oaty biscuits!
Good luck with the catering. Can't wait to read about it.
xox Sarah
yum, I love a good oat cookie.
Congrats on the catering opportunity. If you need any help, I'm happy to stir or take things out of the oven on the day =)
mademoiselle delicieuse - thanks and yep, will be interesting to see how I go. fingers crossed it'll all work out.
kristy - thanks, hoping it will go ok too. double thanks for the tip with the oat cookies - i'll try it out with my next batch :)
amy - it is exciting but makes me nervous at the same time :S
sarah - i've started to like oaty biscuits too. comes in handy when you buy rolled oats in a huge bag. I hardly made a dent to it with this recipe.
mashi - these didn't turn out quite as well as the anzac cookies i made so needs a bit of work. ah...i should've thought of you! (hits self on head),will let you know this week if I need your help to bake!
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