Lemon and mascarpone oat biscuits

I have a little picture up in my bedroom with a statement on it that reads "I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world". Now obviously this is true, but sadly I am in possession of neither a cape, nor a nice tiara, which may explain why there's been a lot of turbulence and trauma in my life of late, both of which show no sign of abating any time soon.

I suppose there's a possibility that I'm being melodramatic and that things aren't as bad as they might seem, but when one finds oneself randomly, and unprovoked, bursting into uncontrollable sobs on a busy tube platform, usually that right there is a sign that all is not as it should be!

The real sign, however, came when I went out for dinner the other day. It was all going swimmingly until it came to dessert and, for some bizarre and unfathomable reason, I rejected the chocolate options - indeed, I rejected any sugar or gluten-based options - and instead went for the cheese board. I don't really know what I was thinking. Evidently I wasn't thinking. Don't get me wrong, I love cheese but as we all well know, its rightful place is in a toasted sandwich, not on a dessert plate.

My strange decision made me realise that it's probably time for me to go in search of the elusive cape and tiara in order to right the wrongs of the world, or at least to stop me from denying myself of a proper dessert ever again. Whilst I pootle off on my search, here are some mascarpone and lemon-filled, pistachio-topped oatie biscuits for you.

Adapted from Nigel Slater's Oat and lemon cookies

Ingredients

Yields 6 large sandwiched biscuits or 8 average sized biscuits

120g butter, softened to room temperature
120g light muscovado sugar
1 large egg yolk
120g porridge oats
90g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of Maldon or other sea salt
20g pistachios, chopped roughly
100g mascarpone
100g lemon curd

Preheat the oven at 180C (160C fan).

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, then mix in the egg yolk.

Once combined, add in the oats, flour, baking powder and salt and mix through until the ingredients bind together cleanly.

Divide the mixture into 12-16 cookies depending on how large you want them to be. Roll the divided pieces into balls then flatten into roughly and place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Keep them about 4-5mm in thickness, so they remain chewy after baking. Note that I followed Nigel's instructions and made 12 biscuits, each about the diameter of a Digestive biscuit, but they expand in the oven so end up much larger than a Digestive! Next time I would make them smaller.

Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over half of the biscuits, pressing the nuts lightly into the dough.

Bake all the biscuits for 11-12 minutes, until they are lightly golden, then remove the tray from the oven and leave the biscuits to cool for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack. As they cool they will crisp up.

To make the filling, place the mascarpone in a mixing bowl and stir in the lemon curd, mixing well to combine and to get a smooth, creamy mixture.

Turn the biscuits that aren't topped with pistachio upside down and place a good dollop of the mascarpone mix on each. You can spread the mascarpone a little with a palette knife but don't spread it to the edge of the biscuits as it will ooze out. Cover with the pistachio-topped biscuits.