The Quest: Oatcakes

For a long time, Phil and I have had this idea of something that would be delicious to eat. We call them oatcakes. We weren't sure they existed anywhere. They'd be a cross between a muffin and a cookie and a scone. Dense, but not too dense. Hearty, good for breakfast. Adaptable to lots of different flavors. Once we saw something that looked about right at the co-op in Bloomington, Indiana, but we didn't buy it and eat it (I'm not sure why? We should have!)

A few weeks ago, I started trying recipes to attempt to find our dream food. First, I started with Heidi Swanson's Oat Cake recipe. The description of them sounded perfect. I whipped up a batch, making two substitutions. I didn't have maple syrup so I used honey instead. I also used chia seeds instead of flax seeds. I ate one with some milk hot out of the oven. It was pretty good. The honey sweetness was a flavor I wasn't quite used to, but good. Unfortunately, when I grabbed one from the tupperware a couple hours later, it was as hard as a rock. Harder than a rock. A rock-hard, cement-filled hockey puck of baked good hardness. Not even the dog wanted to eat one. (Okay, that very last part isn't true. D'artagnan, who we were dogsitting that week, did eat one. But it took him a long time to get through it). I don't know what happened. I put them in the tupperware right away, so it's not as though they sat out for a long time getting stale.

Next I tried a recipe for Honey Nut Raspberry Baked Oatmeal.This recipe was much better. Super easy to whip up. When I ate one right out of the oven, it was really mushy, not really able to eat with your hands. But they firmed up the next day, and I enjoyed eating them for breakfast and a snack. The texture was not what Phil and I had really imagined though. They were really moist, but not bread-y at all. I'm kind of curious to try this recipe again, but maybe with an egg and a bit of flour added to make them more cake-y. The verdict: good, but quest not complete yet.

Finally, last Friday night, I decided to try again starting from a scone recipe. I used this Blueberry Oatmeal Scone recipe. Phil declared these to be very successful. The oatmeal made them heartier than a typical scone. They were just slightly sweet.

To the extent that the quest was for a hearty, breakfast, oat-filled item, I agree. But I still think there could be another recipe out there that hits the texture I have in my mind. For now, I'll be making these again!