A bit of a treat for the weekend, some moreish sticky date cookies. Miss A’s mum has made these before, and I was luckily enough to sample one; and boy was it delici-oh-so! I was stoked to find the recipe in one of my frantic magazine recipe ripping episodes.

Hamsley loves sticky date pudding, and was keen for me to make this cookies. When I went to ice them, he suggested I use some of the leftover Reese’s Pieces butterscotch chips I had in the pantry to decorate them. So I did for a few, then after we sampled one I went on to put butterscotch chips on all the cookies. The only bad thing is, that they are a bit pointy and can hurt the roof of your mouth. So feel free to leave them out, or suck it up and deal with the delicious pain.

Sticky Date & Oat Cookies
From Australian Good Food magazine 

¾ cup (120g) finely chopped pitted dried dates
150g unsalted butter, chopped
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 ¼ cups (185g) plain flour
1 ¼ cups (110g) traditional rolled oats
2/3 cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar
Reeses Pieces butterscotch chips for decoration – for extra indulgence

Caramel Icing
40g unsalted butter, chopped
¼ cup (55g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons milk
2/3 cup (110g) icing sugar mixture

1. Preheat oven to 160C or 140C fan. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Combine dates, butter, syrup and 1 tablespoon of water in a pan on medium heat. Cook, stirring often, for 3 mins, until mixture comes to the boil. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Remove from heat.

3. Combine flour, oats and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in date mixture until combined. Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on prepared baking trays, about 5cm apart.

4. Flatted to 1cm thickness. Bake for 18-20 mins, until golden. Cool on trays for 5 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make caramel icing, combine butter, brown sugar and milk in a small saucepan on medium heat. Cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and whisk in sifted icing sugar. Pour into a bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 mins, until thickened slightly. Drizzle a teaspoon of icing on each biscuit. If using Reese Pieces, place approximately 3-4 on top of the icing of each biscuit. Allow icing to set before serving.

Makes approximately 20 cookies.