This one is for the kids!

Look at that amazing work, made by kids, for kids!
RECIPE … First, and all the talk at the end.
Tasty Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Cookies
Oatmeal sounds just too healthy.
Just look at the photo above. I bet within an hour of these being covered in chocolate there was not 1 left! If you have few hungry kids around they will want more than one. They are quite healthy … but also tasty, why not have both?
Enough for 12 small cookies
INGREDIENTS
– 1 cup of rolled oats- ½ cup wholemeal flour- ½ cup peanut butter ( use the type with only peanut in it )- ½ cup desiccated / shredded coconut- ½ cup brown sugar – Muscovado is good- 1 tbsp. golden syrup or maple syrup- ½ tsp vanilla extract- ½ tsp ground cinnamon – 3 tbsp. soya or oat milk- A good pinch of sea salt ( about ¼ – ½ tsp )- Chocolate topping – details below
METHOD
1. Put everything in a large bowl and mix it all together. It should be a dry enough mixture.2. Turn the oven on to 180C3. Wet your hands so the mixture does not stick to them.4. Make small balls, place them on a baking sheet and squash them flat with your hand. Not too flat, a little thicker than your smart phone.5. Place them in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes or until they are browning at the edges.6. Allow to cool, then drizzle chocolate over them and wait… if you can, for the chocolate to set.
Chocolate Topping Not absolutely necessary but soooo good with it, so why not?
– 1 bar, 100g of dark chocolate- 1 tsp vegetable butter ( like Pure or Naturli )- A few drops of vanilla extractMelt the chocolate in a pot over boiling water, add the butter and vanilla extract and stir it all together.With a spoon shake thin lines of chocolate over each cookie. Allow chocolate to set before eating … putting them in the fridge will speed things up.

This is one I made a little while back as I developed the recipe, needless to say it was a success. And as you can see from that little girl in the photo above … she easily understood the chocolate part!
OK, kids ( 7 to 97 ) , this one is for you!
Winter has set in and it may seem a bit dull. It rains too much and it is cold. You don’t really feel like going out to kick a ball around. Much better indoors in front of the screen playing Blasters of the Universe or Bendy and the Ink Machine or my favourite, Pro Evolution Soccer…I know, I know, Instagram, TikTok or …
It might be a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon and your parents are trying to get you ‘off the screens’ What to do when they try and distract you, ”only 5 minutes more, I promise” or “I am just finishing this level” or “leave me alone!!!”… but nothing works . The parents might go real nuts and cut off the Wi-Fi, that is when you know they are really serious.
To make them go crazy, just say – “ OK, OK, I want to bake!” or “ I want to make cookies” Their immediate reaction will often be, “no”. Parents are like that, they think, oh no, more work, cleaning, etc.. when all they really want is the weekend off.
So just say – “don’t worry, I’ll clean everything up”. They will definitely be very impressed – some of the most wonderful words a parent could hear. But, they may not believe you. Persist, “no, really, don’t worry, I have a new easy recipe and there won’t be any mess. Tell them you have read the Hungry Soul Cookbook and are familiar with Rule no. 7 on page 3, – ‘Tidy as you cook’.
The best thing is went you are done, you will have a nice stock of cookies to be snacking on while playing those games later! May I suggest you double the recipe.Hopefully, they have given you the Ok. Let me tell you, when they taste these cookies they may volunteer to do all the cleaning up.
Make them a cup of tea and give them only one cookie. You can be sure they will ask you for another!
