So many wonderful things happened this week! First, we spent our first full week in our new house! Although every time I feel like I know where everything is going and I have everything under control, Kevin walks in the door with another round of boxes from the storage unit and I realize that I still have a ton of work to do. (Sadly this is why this recipe was made at night and these photos are seriously in need of some work- sorry!) Secondly, college football is back! We were able to watch the Mizzou game only by streaming it to our computer and then streaming from our computer to the TV but we got to see them play…not win…but play. I also made the boys put on their Mizzou gear with me so that we could have our own pretend tailgate at the house. Finally, The Great British Bake Off is back!!!!! If you have Netflix, you can stream the episodes weekly this year. I am so excited. I LOVE this show so much and basically anytime I don’t know what to watch, I put this on and rewatch old episodes. I keep learning new things that I use in my own baking.
Also, I’m so happy to be back to baking. I’m still getting to know the new oven but it has been pretty amazing so far. If you follow along on instagram you know that the best thing ever is that it preheats super fast, it has a working light, and the temperature seems to be pretty accurate so far. All of these things are upgrades from previous ovens we have had in Chicago. While I was trying to decide what to bake this week, I went looking on Pintrest and saw a recipe for oatcakes that I had pinned. I shared it with my friend Shaye while we were texting about our excitement over GBBO and she commented that these are similar to breakfast cookies and I couldn’t agree more. These are a super tasty treat that are perfect any time of day. I learned all about them from the post made by Rachelle Lewis on The Travel Bite. Her blog is all about getting to know new places all over the world through food. These oatcakes are from Nova Scotia, I have never been but if there are more oatcakes – I’m in!
I reviewed the comments on her post and realized that many people added chocolate to their oatcakes and I decided to add mini chocolate chips to half of my batch to see if I preferred one to the other and I honestly loved them both, so did the boys and Kevin.
The ingredients needed for this recipe are 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup room temperature butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 cup boiling water, and 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.
Before beginning, I preheated my oven to 400 F degrees and then lined a baking sheet with parchment paper. I also boiled the 1/4 cup of water and then added the baking soda and stirred it until it dissolved. Then I set it aside until I needed it.
In a large bowl I added all my dry ingredients besides my chocolate chips. I mixed everything together with my hands and then added my butter. I again used my hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients.
Next, I added in the water and baking soda. This may seem like an odd combo but I have used it before as an egg alternative while baking for egg allergies and it works really nicely. I mixed everything together again with my hands and then formed the dough into a ball. I divided it in half and added chocolate chips to the second half of the dough.
I pressed all the dough out onto my baking sheet lined with parchment paper until it was about 1/4 inch thick. I then covered it loosely with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill and firm up for 15 minutes.
Before putting the baking sheet in the oven, I scored the oatcakes with a sharp knife to make small kid sized bites. The original recipe called for much larger squares, which would make a great size to grab a single square for a breakfast or afternoon snack on the run. I then baked the oatcakes for 15 minutes, until they were golden and crisp on the edges. After they were pulled from the oven, I ran my knife over the score lines to divide the squares and then let them cool completely on the baking sheet.
These Nova Scotia oatcakes did not last long in our house at all! Knowing they did not have a great deal of sugar in them I offered them to the boys for breakfast and they loved them, they were perfect for eating in the stroller on the way to the gym. I often would hear a crinkle of the bag and look up and see Kevin grabbing a square while we were working on unpacking. In all honestly, I liked both the plain and the chocolate chip versions and will be making these again soon…probably a double batch next time though!
Final Thoughts:
- I’m pretty sure my sister Amy would eat these even if I tried to sell them to her as a breakfast cookie – maybe even the chocolate chip free version.
- I’m wondering if there are different variations on these as well besides just the chocolate – any ideas?
- Has anyone tried these in Nova Scotia? I wonder if these are traditional or if there is anything else I need to know about oatcakes?
Recipe: Oatcakes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (1 cup if you want the whole batch to have chocolate chips)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Boil water and add baking soda. Mix until dissolved and set aside.
- Add all dry ingredients (besides chocolate chips) to a bowl and mix. Add butter and use your hands to rub butter into dry ingredients.
- Add the baking soda water to the dry ingredients and mix together. Form into a ball and divide in half. Add chocolate chips to half of the dough.
- Press the dough onto the baking sheet with your hands until it is 1/4 thick. Cover and place in the fridge to chill and firm up for 15 minutes.
- Pull baking sheet out of fridge, uncover and score the dough into the size squares you prefer.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are crips and the bars are golden.
- Use your knife to slice along the score lines and separate the squares. Cool on the baking sheet.
- Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from The Travel Bite
Allie and the Oven 