A campsite treat...

As I was camping out in front of the tv for a big chunk of the weekend watching Glastonbury festival, I felt that a campfire treat was appropriate.
The idea of s'mores has always held a particular fascination for me. As you can not get plain graham crackers in this country for love or money, I decided to make these instead. I was amazed at how quick they were to make. And not only that, they are quite special too...
I halved the recipe as I felt that 30 cookies would be a bit much, but as I am the original ditzy queen (can I blame the weather?) I used the full quantity of oatmeal. This also meant that I could use the whole egg and not just half a one which would have been awkward, so in a sense it worked out perfectly. I guess the cookies turned out a bit drier than they would otherwise have been because of the oatmeal, but they are gorgeous anyway.

S'mores Cookies
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (125 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into 30 squares
15 large marshmellows, halved horizontally

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse oats until finely ground. Add flours, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, pulse to combine. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, scraping down the side of the bowl. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture until just combined.
Drop dough by tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Top each with a chocolate square. Bake just until lighly golden, 11-13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove sheets from oven, heat grill. Top each cookie with a halved marshmallow. One sheet at a time grill until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1-1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

The other thing I did this weekend is set myself a reading target. I saw this on another blog I was reading the other day and thought that was a great idea. I set myself a summer reading challenge. Between now and September 21 ( which is the official start of autumn) I want to read the following books.
1. The Knickerbocker glory years, Martin Lampen
2.The language instinct, Steven Pinker
3. Cheerful weather for the wedding, Julia Strachey
4. Bloomsbury, a house of lions, Leon Edel
5. Pastures nouveaux, Wendy Holden
6 Cover her face, P.D. James
7. Consequences, E.M. Delafield
8. Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, Jane Dunn
9. Bloomsbury in France, Caws and Wright
10. A vintage affair, Isabell Wolff
11. Matisse, a life in the south of France,
12. Austerity Britain, David Kynaston
13. Millie's flirt, Jill Mansell
14. Mrs Woolf and the servants, Alison Light
15. Home to roost, Deborah Devonshire
16. Howard's End, E.M. Forster
17. The voyage out, Virginia Woolf
18. My turn to make the tea, Monica Dickens
19. How to run your home without help, Kate Smallshaw
20.Cold meat and how to disguise it, Hunter Davies.
I might have been a bit over ambitious, but ... see how I will fare.
Enjoy a gorgeously warm week!