Nova Scotia Oatcakes

I had never heard of oatcakes before I lived in Halifax. Almost every coffee shop serves them here, and at first I was a little skeptical. They seemed pretty bland and boring. Once I got my mind past the fact that they are not cookies, well, it was true love. They are the perfect dunking biscuit, especially with your coffee or tea mid-afternoon. There are also savory versions, but I prefer this one, which is just a little sweet. My favourite oatcake is the one that the Second Cup downtown serves (the Bedford Second Cup's are different). I prefer more oats, less "dough" surrounding the oats. This recipe has a lot of dough, but I kept adding more oats until my dough was quite stiff and you could see more oats and less dough. This recipe reminds me more of the Mrs. P's Bakery oatcakes (for those of you who know what those are).
Please leave comments if you try these!!!


Beat together:

1/2 C butter
1/2 C shortening
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar

Put 3 Tbsp boiling water in a cup and dissolve 1/2 tsp baking soda in the water.
Pour over butter mixture and beat well.

Add:
1 1/2 C flour (part whole wheat if you want)
1 1/2 C rolled oats (I probably ended up using about 2 1/2 C but just keep adding more until it's the balance of dough vs. oats that you want. It's not picky.)
1/4 tsp salt

Roll into balls and shape and flatten with hands until they are perfectly round with no rough edges (if your dough ends up stiff you can roll them out and use a cookie cutter).
Bake in preheated oven at 375F for about 8 minutes or until the edges are golden.
*Note to my sisters: this is one biscuit that I don't leave underbaked. They are for dunking anyway so go ahead and dry them out a bit, just not too much! :-)

**This recipe makes about 12 medium oatcakes.