1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan). Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and pale (you can do this with a wooden spoon if the butter is soft). Stir in the almond essence. Using your hands, first mix in the flour, then the oats until everything is well combined. Bring the dough together into a patty and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

3. On a floured work surface, roll out the cookie dough with a rolling pin (if the mixture crumbles, just press it back together with your hands. Use a medium-sized cookie cutter to stamp out cookies and evenly space them apart on the parchment paper.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes (it is normal that they will be quite pale in colour). Leave to cool for a few minutes before carefully lifting off the baking tray and transferring to cool fully on a wire rack.

Variation

As an alternative to an almond flavour, you can add in all sorts of other ingredients just like in any oat or muesli bar. Cinnamon is great with oats. Chocolate chips, desiccated coconut, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit and even goji berries can be worked into the oat mixture.