In the US sitcom, Friends, there’s an episode where Phoebe talks about how she makes the best oat raisin cookies.

I saw this particular episode a few weeks ago (we are watching the whole series again, introducing it to my youngest) and ever since, I craved a good oat and raisin cookie. So much so that when I went to a school open day and they were offering those ubiquitous giant cookies, even though I know they are nearly always crap, I searched out the one that looked like an oat raisin one. Sure enough, it wasn’t very good.

I am so suggestible that I still really craved a really good oaty, raisin cookie, then I remembered that, almost as a footnote, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had a suggestion for such a biscuit, at the bottom of his chocolate chip cookies as in ‘if you want an oat raisin cookie, do this to the recipe instead of adding chocolate chips’. I had a half memory that I’d made them once and they were much better than you think they’re going to be.

Oat and raisin cookies don’t exactly make you reach inside the biscuit tin. It’s the sort of biscuit that would always be last to be picked for the team. And yet, these are now my new favourites and I think I could give Phoebe a run for her money.

I’ve adapted them from the original by decreasing the sugar and I use half and half plain/wholemeal flour.

You need: 125g soft butter, 50g caster sugar, 50g soft brown sugar, a tablespoon of honey, one egg, 75g plain flour, 75g wholemeal plain flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, 50g rolled oat flakes (big is best), 75g of chopped nuts – hazelnuts, almonds, pecans or walnuts or a mix of them, 100g of raisins.

Oven to 190C.

Cream the 125g of soft butter with the 50g of caster sugar and the 50g of brown sugar and the one tablespoon of honey. Now mix in the one egg. Now add the 75g of plain flour and 75g of wholemeal plain flour, the half a teaspoon of cinnamon and the half a teaspoon of baking powder. Then add the 50g of oats, then add 75g of nuts and the 100g of raisins. Mix til everything is incorporated.

The dough will be sticky, I roll up tablespoons of dough and flatten slightly on a tray. They don’t spread so much but still, leave a bit of a gap on a baking parchment lined tray.

Bake for 8 ins. They will be quite soft when they first come out but they harden up to a wonderful buttery crispness. I like to pretend they are healthier than other biscuits.