White Chocolate, Oat and Raisin Cookies

I'm trying to beat the system here with these cookies, can I munch away on these and not feel guilty!! Well yes I believe I can, I'm not one to deny myself so I will eat a cookie no mater what. Perhaps if that cookie has real goodness in it and still tastes delicious then I'm onto a winner. I regard the goodness as the porridge oats and the sunflower seeds all very beneficial for lowering Cholesterol , fibre and long lasting energy but the guilty part is the white chocolate! Now if you really need to be very, very good then I suppose you could half the amount of chocolate or perhaps omit it all together...there, these cookies are squeaky clean on the healthy front, but down right guilty on the tasty front!! 

I made these little beauties for January Calendar Cakes which is hosted by Laura Loves Cakes and Dolly Bakes, well worth checking out their brilliant blogs.

Makes 22-24

Ingredients
50g Plain flour
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp Salt

75g Butter
85g Soft brown sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 Egg, beaten

150g White chocolate chips
75g Raisins
50g Sunflower seeds
80g Porridge oats


Method
Preheat  the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper, set aside. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a small bowl. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and the beaten egg along with a tablespoon of the sifted flour (this prevents the egg from curdling, especially if like me you keep your eggs in the fridge) 

Fold in all of the remaining ingredients until completely combined and you have a stiff dough. 

Shape into walnut-sized balls and flatten slightly by pressing in the centre with wet fingers. Allow about 5cm between each cookie as they will spread while baking. 

Place in the oven pre-heated  for 10 to 12 minutes until golden around the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. 

The cookies will crisp up as they cool and are suitable for freezing.

Recipe adapted from Annabel Karmel's Oat and Raisin Cookies recipe.