Cookies for Ponies

• 2 cups oats
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups shredded carrot
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. vegetable oil
• 0.5 cup molasses
• 0.5 cup water

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and give them a stir to mix them, then add the oil, molasses, and water. Do mix it all up as soon as you add the water, otherwise the oats will start to absorb the water and there won't be enough left to bind with the flour and glue the cookies together.

It might seem as if your mixing is not getting anywhere at first, but keep going, and it will all come together. If it's really hard going, you can add a splash more water, but don't overdo it.

If you're making these for ponies or minis you want to make these rather small, maybe one large tsp. per cookie, so these quantities should make about 36 cookies. If you're making them for a full-sized horse, then you want them like largish golf balls (a generous tablespoonful each), and you should get 20-24 out of this quantity of ingredients.

Either grease a couple of cookie sheets, or line them with kitchen parchment. Things will be quite a bit less sticky if you put a little vegetable oil on your spoon and your free hand.

In any case, make your cookies and flatten them just a little as you place them on the cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45–50 minutes or until golden brown. If your cookies are on the large end, they'll take a little longer.

In my experience, horses don't really care much whether the cookie is on the crunchy side or the chewy side, but I think they're done when the underside is turning dark brown but not yet black. If they're just pale brown they need a few more minutes. If you under-cook them, they'll go mouldy pretty quickly. Otherwise they should keep in a jar for 3–4 weeks.