Cooking economically doesn’t have to be all boiling chicken bones and using up yesterdays left-overs. When it comes to making more fun and indulgent things, you’d be surprised by what ingredients you have sitting in your cupboards.

Having just held my sons birthday party at home, I have lots of half bags of sugar and chocolate and all sorts of bits to use up. If you have some time to empty out your food cupboards you will probably find flour, peanut butter, sprinkles, food colouring and lots of things that you may have bought to make one particular cake or another.

There’s no time like the present to get the kids, big or small into the kitchen too. With our lovely weather for ducks, keeping yourself and everyone occupied is a challenge. The best thing about easy baking is that you get a result, and sweet treats always means smiles, as you get to eat your efforts.

01 Oatmeal and Chocolate Cookies
I make these a lot, they are great treats but made or oatmeal so they are somehow healthy. My favourite oatmeal is Bunalun, an Irish organic brand that’s widely available, it had a nutty texture with plenty of bite, so works well for these, plus as regular porridge. I don’t use chocolate chips as I prefer to chop up a bar of good quality dark chocolate instead. Lidl do an excellent range of bars that range from 56% to 80% cocoa solids, and for the money it’s great value too. The cookies will keep for a few days if you can stop eating them, also they are great for winning over your children’s teachers.

You will need:

Baking trays

• 150g softened butter
• 1 cup soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2  tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/3 cup oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180degreesC/ Gas 4

1. With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the flour and baking powder. The mixture will be quite dry but that’s the way it should be. Mix in the oats and chocolate.
2. Take a tablespoon of mixture in your hand and form it into a small ball. Press it gently onto the baking tray. The size of the cookies if up to you so if you want little ones make little ones, or big ones. They won’t spread out too much but leave some space around them on the tray. This amount makes 20 cookies for me.
3. If your tray is full and you only have one then you will have to bake them in batches and let the tray cool down after each batch. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden, remove carefully from the baking tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.