Nigel's Mummy's Cookies

Nigel always had tins of homemade cookies to share and we had his mummy to thank for that (and she was a mummy - never mum or mother). She let me have the recipe and I have been sharing it round ever since. These cookies never fail to please. (And I should point out that Steve is better at making them than I am... can't quite work out why.

The recipe has been around since pre-decimalisation days. Although I have updated the temperature to metric I have kept quantities faithful to the original. I suggest you do the same, since inaccuracies in measuring results in the cookies being somehow 'not quite right'.

I have replaced marge in the original recipe with butter, since it is no longer possible to buy the same sort of marge as we used to get. Spreadable butter, olive oil spreads, and those utterly unbelievable butter substitute spreads just will not do!

4 oz sugar
4 oz butter
6 oz self raising flour
1 level teaspoon bicarb (don't leave this out - both flavour and texture will be wrong)
1 level tablespoon golden syrup
a handful of sultanas (or chopped nuts, or chocolate, or dates, or...)

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Add syrup and sultanas, the flour and bicarb. Mix to form a stiff paste.

Using plenty of flour on you hands, roll into balls the size of a walnut and place onto a baking sheet allowing plenty of space between them. The original recipe suggests flattening slightly, but the balls collapse into cookie shapes when you put them in the oven so there is really no need.

Cook at 180 degrees for 10 minyes, keeping a close eye on them near the end as they will burn quickly if overcooked.

When you take the trays out of the oven, drop them from a few inches so they bang down on the work surface. This helps give a attractive professional cracked looking appearance to the cookies.

Loosen cookies quickly with a broad knife, but leave on the tin to cool - if you try to move them too quickly you will end up with a plate of crumbs.

Enjoy. But try not to eat them all at once. Steve usually makes a double batch just in case...