Picnic cookies

This is the evil twin of my Kiddie’s Fruit Salad.  Rather than being named after that civilized English past time of eating cucumber sandwiches and Victoria sponge in the sunshine, these cookies get their name from the Cadbury’s Picnic Bar! My daughter had to take the day off school to go to A&E after spraining her ankle and was soon marooned at home, unable to run around or play. She asked if we could make some cookies and while rummaging around in the cupboard I discovered three of these chocolate bars sitting unloved at the back. The rest, as they say, is history!

Ingredients

• 3½ ounces / 100g caster sugar
• 2½ ounces / 75g soft light brown sugar
• 4½ ounces / 125g unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 5¼ ounces / 150g plain flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1¾ ounces / 50g oats
• 3½ ounces / 100g raisins
• 2½ ounces / 75g chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 3 Cadbury’s Picnic bars, chopped into large chunks

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C  (170°C fan) / 374°F (338°F fan)  and line 3 baking sheets with baking parchment.

Mix the sugars in a large bowl.

Melt the butter and syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat and then add to the sugars.  Stir with a large wooden spoon.

In a jug lightly beat the egg with the vanilla and then add to the butter/sugar and mix well.

Sift the flours, baking powder and sugar into the bowl and stir to combine.

Add the oats, raisins and hazelnuts and stir everything in.

Spoon heaped tablespoon sized balls of dough (it will be quite wet) onto your baking sheets, leaving plenty of space between each to allow for spreading.

Bake for 5 minutes and then quickly remove from the oven, dot pieces of your Picnic bars into your cookies (which will now be spreading) and return to the oven for another 6 or 7 minutes or until they’re starting to crisp at the edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Tips

If you struggle to find a Picnic bar, any chocolate bar containing peanuts and caramel will have the same impact!

Trivia

Cadbury’s original Picnic bar was first released in the UK in 1958. Although now widely available throughout the world, there are subtle regional differences. Whereas the UK and Indian versions, for example, contain raisins and comes in a blue wrapper, the version marketed in Australia and New Zealand doesn’t and has a red and yellow wrapping. Australia also had at one stage limited editions called a Picnic Honeycomb (with honeycomb pieces), a Picnic Hedgehog (with biscuit pieces), and a Picnic Rocky Road (with marshmallows and gumdrops). In 2010, a Picnic Almond was available in New Zealand, and is now available in Australia as a Roast Almond Feast. In the UK, Cadbury’s also make a Picnic ice cream.