Before moving to Shetland I was completely unaware of the vast range of weird Shetland and Scottish dishes that exist. Dishes such as reested mutton, tattie soup, Shetland bannocks, clootie dumpling, clapshot, and sassermaet. I’m afraid to say though that as far as I’m concerned some of these can remain in the fog of traditions past. Some are lovely though (Shetland bannocks, I’m looking at you). My most exciting moment of culinary discover however came when I first tried oatcakes.
That a thing as simple and beautiful as an oatcake had escaped my knowledge for so long is a travesty. They’re easy to make, versatile, nutritious, filling and, most importantly delicious.
Oats have been having a bit of a moment lately, and deservedly so. The humble oat has been a wide spread staple of many diets since sometime around 2000 BC. It’s slow release energy and ability to stabilize blood sugar levels have recently made it one of the cool kids, but it’s been quietly fighting for healthy hearts and better immunity in many kitchens long before any of us had even heard of a phytonutrient.
But far from being good for porridge alone, oats can be worked into all kinds of recipes form pie crust, to bread, raw snack bars and bean loaf. It is one of the most used ingredients in our kitchen. You’ll see oats coming up frequently on the ingredient lists of many of my recipes. So I figured what better recipe to break into the whole oatey subject than oatcakes.
You can make oatcakes as coarse or as fine as you like depending on how finely you initially grind your oats into flour. I prefer mine quite fine.
To cut them out I just use a tall, narrow glass, and that creates a perfect size.
Oatcakes are wonderful as a snack or for lunch with savory things like cheese, bean dip, avacado, or with a sweeter topping. Today I’ve whipped them up with some chocolate spice cashew butter to spread on them. Mmmmmm. Tune in tomorrow for that recipe!
- 150g oats
- 50g whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 120 mL water
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Put the oats into a blender and blitz until it becomes flour.
- Put the oat flour into a large bowl and mix in the wheat flour and salt.
- Add the oil and water and mix until it comes together into a rough dough. Turn it out onto a counter top and knead it for a few minutes then roll the dough out fairly thinly and cut circles from it. (It should give about a dozen 6-7cm diameter oatcakes at around half a cm thickness.)
- Place the oatcakes onto the prepared tin, put it onto the middle rack of the oven and leave to bake until crisp through and golden brown, about 30 min.
These look great and super simple!
Im gonna try them out 🙂
They’re excellent, healthy, and the boys like them 😀
Thank you for sharing these recipes, I have recently been eating only whole foods and feel much better for it. I agree with you that some of the traditional Shetland dishes can remain firmly in the past! I used to make oatcakes regularly but mine contained butter and sugar so I am keen to try this recipe – and I have been thinking about the chocolate cashew butter since I saw the recipe! I look forward to seeing what else you come up with.
Donna x
Thanks Donna!! I do love the oatcakes! And with some of that cashew butter on them…delicious! Of course it’s really just a reason to eat chocolate 😉 Let me know what you think if you try it out!
Nicki