Cape Breton Oatcakes

saucey1's Note:

This is the best oatcake recipe. It has the perfect balance between salt and sweet. This recipe comes from the Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia. It is a traditional treat as we have a strong Scottish culture in this province.

• Total Time: 27 mins
• Prep Time: 12 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-8

Yield: 4.0 varies

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup cold water

Directions:

1. Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Rub in shortening with fingertips until crumbly.
3. mix in water with a fork until a ball forms, divide in half.
4. On a floured surface roll out to 1/2" to 1/4" thickness.
5. Traditionally they are cut into 2 1/2 inch squares, then triangles but some people like circles. your choice.
6. bake on a greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Cheers!

Reviews

[Chef #559862]

These are fantastic! I used one cup of whole wheat flour and one of all-purpose (instead of two of all-purpose), otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Quite easy to make, if a bit messy, although my daughter liked that bit. As the description states-- "the perfect balance between salt and sweet." Not too sweet, but just enough. Puffs up to look something like a cake-y oatmeal cookie (without the raisins), and smells wonderful baking. I had a bit of trouble telling if they were "golden brown" since the dough is a bit brown in the first place! A couple of the cakes crumbled up on me, so maybe these were undercooked or poorly mixed.
I loved how it didn't take too many dishes to make, and I was able to cook the whole batch on one cookie sheet. I'll be making this one again!

[Chef #570804 Halifax Liz]

Great oatcake recipe. Substituting wholewheat (half and half) would probably make these too crumbly and difficult to handle Suggest you follow the recipe as written because quantities are dead on.

[Saejin1983]

This is a great recipe! I followed it and the oatcakes came out wonderfully. I had to use about 3/4 cup of water to get the dough to stick together but I also added in some pine nuts, nutmeg, and allspice which really made the flavors hit home. I'm up in the mountain so I had to bake mine for about 25 minutes or so to get them to brown but once they came out they held their shape perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing