I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Lent is once more upon us. As has been our custom for some years, we follow a modified medieval Lenten observance, to wit: no meat, no eggs, no dairy for the entire duration, although we give ourselves one feast day each week where we can indulge. This means we are essentially pesco-vegans, which is apparently a thing, for six weeks or so. This is not a problem, for the most part. We eat vegetarian chili, vegetable curries, some fish, and, in years past, tofu and seitan. (I've not found a good tofu/seitan source yet. On the other hand, fish and chips works just fine, which is nice here in the North of England.)

Pudding, or dessert if you prefer, is the problem. Our options tend to be a bit limited with no egg or dairy allowed. Certainly, there are chocolate bars which fit the bill, and sorbets are often Lenten approved, but sometimes they just don't appeal. Cakes, cookies, and pies are tricky to make without egg and dairy, but not impossible. The other day, I wanted cookies, so I experimented. The result was not too bad, if I say so myself.

• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• a good dash or two of cinnamon
• 1 cup of chopped dried fruit, whatever you like
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Put cookie sized dollops onto a baking sheet and pop them into a 160C/325F oven for thirty minutes. Simple.

If your cookies are the same size as mine, this should make 12 or 15. You have as much flexibility as you like in choice of fruit. I've been using apricots with dates or currants. My juice of choice is actually an apple-rhubarb blend, which works quite well.

That's it really. Lenten appropriate cookies. Enjoy.