Estonian desserts: Kaeraküpsised, my favourite oat cookies in the world

I've got a problem with most oat cookie recipes I come across. They are way too complicated and contain way too many ingredients, whereas I want my oat cookies to be simple, bordering on the plain. Also, I don't want my oat cookies to be dentally challenging, i.e. too crunchy or hard, as most of the commercially available oat cookies are. Finally, I like my oat cookies to be sweet rather than savoury, so as much as I love the sensible and healthy Scottish oatcakes, these are best suited to transfer a tiny chunk of cheese into my mouth, and not as nibbled when I feel peckish and want something sweet to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Here's my favourite oat cookie recipe that I've adapted over the years from the Finno-Ugric cookbook (Soome-ugri kokaraamat, 1995) that I've mentioned before. These cookies only contain the bare minimum of ingredients (no flour or baking powder in sight). They're crisp on the edges but with melt-in-your-mouth centres. And they are incredibly tasty as well. I love yellow raisins in my oat cookies as opposed to dark ones, but I think Buderim's candied ginger nibbles would work well, too. Or dark chocolate chips, if you're feeling naughty..

Pille's melt-in-your-mouth oat cookies
(Suussulavad kaeraküpsised)
Yields about 40-45 cookies



500 grams old-fashioned porridge oats
4 large eggs
150 grams sugar
170 grams butter, melted & cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 grams small seedless yellow raisins

Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and frothy, season with vanilla extract, then stir in melted butter, oats and raisins. Stir until combined. The mixture should be on the soft side.
Take scant tablespoonfuls of the mixture and transfer them onto a lined baking sheet. (You don't want to make your cookies too large, as egg is the only thing holding them together, and they'd collapse if they're too large).
Bake in a pre-heated 180 C oven for about 10-11 minutes, until cookies are baked and golden brown on edges.
Transfer gently to a metal rack to cool. Keep in a airtight container for a few days.

Other cookie recipes @ Nami-nami:
Crumbly pistachio cookies (March 2006)
Estonian Christmas cookies (December 2005)
Hazelnut butter cookies (November 2005)
Lemon & pistachio shortbread cookies (March 2007)
Mayonnaise cookies (August 2005)
Peanut butter cookies (November 2005)

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Two years ago today I wrote about the expensive and beautiful flowering tea. Last year I posted some pictures about three fabulous breakfasts I had on the Greek island of Santorini and asked you to nominate your favourite :)