Oatcakes – Oatmeal Crackers

Smörgåsbord is a way of life for Scandinavians and open-face sandwiches and snack crackers like rye crisp are part of that tradition. These are my aunt’s oatcakes that make a delicious snack cracker sandwich.

Preheat oven to 325° F.

In a bowl, blend together

• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1 cup white flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Add liquid and mix.

• 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup hot water

Layer parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread out the dough, pressing it flat to 1/4 inch. To get even edges, fold up the parchment paper and press until it is evenly flat. It will fill the entire cookie sheet so it’s nice if you use one with edges. I used a pizza cutter to cut into 24 squares before baking because it will crumble if you cut it later. The pizza cutter won’t pull the dough, so it’s easier than a regular knife.

I baked for 40 minutes, until it began to brown and then let it cool. It will crack apart where you cut. The oatcakes are delicious plain, a bit of nutty crispness. However, oatcakes are also a fantastic base for snacks.

Things I have put on oatcakes include:

• Diced tomatoes and parm
• Hard-boiled eggs and olives
• Cucumbers, sour cream, and dill
• Zucchini, tomatoes, and red chili flakes (Thanks, Eripom!)
• Pepper jack cheese
• Cheddar cheese
• Olive tapenade
• Lingonberry preserves
• Banana & Peanut Butter

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Oatmeal Scones with Dried Cranberries and Pecans

These are incredibly easy scones that take less than 30 minutes from start to finish.

Preheat oven to 425° Fahrenheit. Most recipes start with preheat and your oven is heated up long before your recipe is mixed. Not with this, even starting to preheat before you mix one thing, you might have to wait to get to 425.

In a large bowl, mix the following dry ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Combine the following wet ingredients in another bowl. Pour them into the dry. You can make a little well in the dry ingredients to pour the wet in as that makes it just a bit easier to mix.

• 1 egg, beaten until frothy
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup of melted butter

Note: This recipe is so forgiving it does not care whether you melt the butter and add it with the milk and egg or if you mix cold butter into the dry mixture by hand until it is crumbly. You can choose. Either method has the same result. It is just slightly easier and faster to melt the butter in the microwave for 45 seconds or so.

Mix the ingredients so all the dry is incorporated. It will be a wet, sticky dough.

Put parchment paper on cookie sheet.

If you are ambitious, you can flour a board and roll it out into two circles about 1/2 thick and cut each circle into 4 pie-size wedges. I think it is just easier to roll out eight balls of dough and press them into 1/2 thick little rounds. Separate them so they are not touching.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until risen and browned.

You can serve warm with some butter, jam or cream cheese, but I like them plain with nothing else, warm or cold.

Makes 8 scones.

Oatmeal & Berries

Steel Cut Oatmeal is so much more flavorful than regular oatmeal, it’s well worth the 30 minutes it takes to cook. Bring two cups of water to a boil. Add 1/2 cup of dry steel cut oatmeal and turn the water down to a simmer and stir for 30 minutes or so until done. I added about 1/8 cup of frozen raspberries that I zapped in the microwave with a teaspoon of vanilla sugar. I keep a canister of sugar with 2 vanilla beans in it to flavor the sugar. It adds an extra flavor note with more subtlety than you can get using the bean itself or extract.