When we first moved from San Francisco to Fort Collins, there were many foods that we missed -- freshly made tortillas, papusas, thai fish cakes (ok, so i was the only one that missed those), and oat cakes.
My search for tortillas and oat cakes particularly brought puzzled looks from people. Believe it or not, the only corn tortillas some of the supermarkets here had back in 2001, were the fried, taco shaped kinds. Now most supermarkets carry soft tortillas, but they're so full of preservatives that you're lucky if you can taste any corn. But at least when I asked for a tortilla, people in general seemed to know what I was getting at -- a flat thing made of corn.
When I'd ask about oat cakes on the other hand, people hadn't a clue. "You mean oatmeal cake?" they'd ask? "No, little round puck shaped things made with oats." "Oooooh." And that was that. They obviously thought I was a nutcase for even thinking such a thing existed and that anyone would want to eat one if they did.
So finally Rob, in exasperation, decided there's got to be a recipe out there somewhere so we could learn to make our own oatcakes. He did find a few online and modified them until he finally settled on the following recipe.
(In the meantime, I've finally seen oatcakes for sale in Fort Collins. They're over-packaged and marketed as heart-healthy food (instead of just being marketed as plain old yummy oat cakes). I haven't tried one yet, but that's largely because Rob's oat cakes are so good, I don't feel the need to even try the others now.)
Ingredients:
3 c. rolled oats (we used the thick rolled kind)
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 to 2 eggs
1/2 c. coconut oil (melted)
1/4 c. olive oil
3/4 c. cane syrup (we use steen's)
1/2 c. sucan
3 T. flax seeds (optional)
1 c. dried cherries (optional)
Directions:
Mix everything together and pack into muffin tins. (We don't use any cups of any kind and we don't grease the tins either.) Cook for 22 minutes at 325 degrees. Let cool before removing from tin. Eat within a week or store in the fridge to preserve freshness.
tell me more about sucanut? I don't know anything about it.
ReplyDeleteit's freeze dried cane syrup. so it's not bleached like white sugar is, and it's not quite as processed, so it still has some of the minerals, etc. that have been stripped from white sugar. here's more: sucanat.
ReplyDeleteAwesome thanks! Is there a way to suplement the coconut oil, cane surup, and sucanut? I know it wouldn't be ideal, but I'm just wondering.
ReplyDeletenice!!! I'll have to get some :D
ReplyDeleteyou mean substitute, right?
ReplyDeleteyou could use any kind of fat (but coconut is one of the best for your healthwise and adds lots of yummy flavor). maybe try butter. crisco would be a last resort and will mean the oat cakes won't have much flavor. :-P
rob has tried other things for the cane syrup (at my insistence) and he's right. the cane syrup really does taste the best. (the kids refused to eat the ones with the other alternatives that i suggested. they didn't like the flavor.) you probably could try honey. i'm not sure why rob doesn't do honey in these, but i think it had something to do with consistency or flavor. but it would be worth a try.
for sucanut, you can always put in that bleached, chemically altered, nutrient deficient stuff that people call white sugar. :-P or brown sugar might make a better replacement with a little more flavor.
Thanks! You know what?! I think these oatcakes are like the Aussie Bites that I love! I just didn't recognize them because of the dried cherries!
ReplyDeletethey're a traverse city, michigan addition. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat holds it together? No water, or milk...???
ReplyDeleteeggs, oil and sugars. it's a sticky, gooey mass that compacts nicely when you're sticking it into muffin tins.
ReplyDeleteThe first ones I put in the oven didn't stick together. I put a little water in it and the rest stuck together just fine. They are mighty tasteeeeeeeee!
ReplyDeletedid you pack it into muffin tins? did you make substitutions? what ingredients did you use?
ReplyDeleteWe used butter, brown sugar, honey as substitutes. It was more like granola consistency. I just sprinkled water until iit balled a little more but wasn't runny dough.
ReplyDeletedid you do the olive oil part? maybe melting the butter would have done it?
ReplyDeleteit's interesting to try this and that and see how the recipe reacts. it would be nice to have a whole series of oat cake recipes for variety.
butter and no olive oil
ReplyDeleteOat is a lot used in cooking here. Finns would eat oat porridge and oat cookies and whatever else you could cook of it. One of the things I every now and then buy from the supermarket is oat yoghurt and the other thing I get every now and then is oat milk. They are both very tasty, just like this recipe looks like.
ReplyDeletei think i've had milk made from oats (although i think it was mixed with milk made from a few other grains as well) but i've never heard of oat yogurt. i'd love to know what that tastes like.
ReplyDelete