help with recipe

[derekfrom france]

know its not gen related but my mother made for us as kids a biscuit made with porridge oats/brown sugar/butter
would love to taste it again does anyone know the recipe.
waiting with anticipation cheers derek

[Russell]

Hi Derek

There's a traditional oatmeal biscuit although it has some flour in it too.
3 oz (75 g) sugar
4 oz (125g) butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 oz (125g) porridge oats or oatmeal
1 beaten egg.
Cream the butter and sugar then add the dry ingredients then mix in the well beaten egg. Mix
Grease a baking sheet or use baking parchment. Drop spoonfuls onto it leaving space for the mixture to spread.
Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven 350 F (180 C) for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

You could swap the refined sugar for brown sugar or golden syrup (3 dessertspoons) if you like
To make them dairy free use a vegetable oil based spread instead of the butter.
Try a variant using black treacle instead of sugar or syrup. Very tasty too.

There's a great book of traditional Scottish recipes some of which were in my mothers handwritten recipe book too
"Traditional Scottish Cookery" by Theodora Fitzgibbon. Lomond books. 1980. ISBN 1 85152 839 3

Oatmeal comes in a variety of grades and textures and some folk prefer rolled oats to make their biscuits crunchy. If you are using fine oatmeal some add 1/2 a cup of soured milk before adding the flour to the mixture.

Enjoy your experiments

Russell

[WilmaM]

Sounds more like Flapjacks:
75g of butter or margarine
50 - 75g light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of golden syrup
175g of porridge oats
Put the butter or margarine, sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the fat and sugar have melted
Add the porridge oats and blend thoroughly.
Press into a well greased 18cm square sandwich tin.
Bake in the centre of a moderate oven at 180c or 350f or gas mark 4 for 25 minutes or until evenly golden brown.
Mark into fingers whilst warm.
Allow to become almost cold in the tin before removing.

or try my Great Aunt's Crunchies:
4oz SR Flour
4oz marg
3oz sugar
2oz rolled oats
1 teaspoon syrup
3 teaspoon boiling water
vanilla essence
cream marg & sugar, add syrup, water & vanilla
stir in flour & oats
roll into balls place on a greased tin/ baking paper
bake 160 for 15-20 mins
decorate with icing & half a glace cherry

[ninatoo]

Wilma, that first recipe sounds like Anzac biscuits!

[Russell]

Hi Wilma & Nina
Isn't it funny that both your suggested names are from the second war ? Mine was from a pre-first war recipe way before we imported the American flap-jacks. There are umpteen variations on oat-meal biscuits. Add dried fruit and that, to me is a flap-jack. Miss out most of the sugar and add a pinch of salt and it is nearer to a bannock. Have you tried replacing the sugar with honey ? fabulous flavour - if you like honey that is
I like your alternatives though.

Russell

[LesleyB]

Try Delia Smith:
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main ... cuits.html

I sometimes make these when I have oats to be used up. It is a very quick and easy recipe. You can add some dried fruit, mixed chopped nuts & some seeds (I've used sesame & linseed before) for a variation if you have those hanging about needing used up too!
Just uses oats, butter & sugar for the basic recipe as you metioned, Derek.

Best wishes
Lesley

[ninatoo]

Hi Russell,

The Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) were best known for their fall at Gallipoli, in WW1. The biscuits were indeed sent to soldiers in care packages because they travelled well and didn't spoil and became known as Anzacs as a result. I didn't realise flapjacks were so similar, and in fact I have always thought of flapjacks as pancakes!

[AndrewP]

I didn't realise flapjacks were so similar, and in fact I have always thought of flapjacks as pancakes!

Hi Nina,

According to Wikipedia, in the USA a flapjack is more of a pancake, whereas in western Europe it is the oat biscuit discussed above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapjack

All the best,

AndrewP

[StewL]

Hello All
This is a great site for Scottish Recipes. It appears to have them all (or most) I first found it when I was looking to make tattie scones, but it ended up my youngest brother makes the best ones So I just ask him
http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/ ... _index.htm

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Russell.

When I read your recipe my immediate reaction was, "But where is the vanilla essence and salt ?"

Then next I see Wilma has one with essence added. Our Grand Parents could all cook amazing biscuits and cakes, often on primitive stoves, with just a variation of the basic ingredients, Flour, milk, eggs, butter and sugar, pinch of salt, vanilla essence and rising agents baking powder [and or baking soda when using Golden Syrup] or yeast if a bread product.

Variation then came with what ever was surplus, and to hand, like dried coconut, nuts and meals, dried fruits, and cocoa powder. Variation also came with a wide variation of speciality flours, and forms of sweeteners through to treacle and malt extract.

But enough from me or we will be turning a Genealogical forum into a recipe swap forum. Though that said, I recently saw a family’s 100 years of history publication that, as part of it’s pages of supporting illustrations, included Grand Ma’s favourite recipe.

Alan SHARP.