Scottish oatcakes
Scottish Oatcakes are really simple to make and a great bake for kids. They get to get their hands messy and, it’s nice to bake something that’s a bit healthy!
Scottish oatcakes are a great bake for kids. With only a few store cupboard ingredients, and no added sugar, they’re the perfect snack kids will love getting to make. We always have a packet of oatcakes in the house somewhere, but if you’ve got a little bit of time, these homemade oatcakes will beat shop bought ones any day.
Oat cakes are really simple to make and a great bake for kids. They get to get their hands messy and for once, it’s nice to bake something that doesn’t contain any sugar!
What are Scottish oatcakes?
Scottish oatcakes are a simple, savoury biscuit made from porridge oats. There’s nothing cake like about them, think more like a cracker.
How can kids help make these Scottish oatcakes?
This is a pretty simple recipe for kids to make. With only a few ingredients, there’s only a few steps to follow so even young children can help bake them.
It’s really hands on, which can be a great experience for kids. They’ll get the chance to rub the butter and flour together with their fingers which is a job my kids always enjoy. Just like with their playdough, they can roll the oatcakes out, before using their cutters to cut them. And unlike some other more delicate biscuits, these oatcakes are a bit more robust so good for children’s rough handling.
Are oatcakes healthy?
Oatcakes are full of rolled oats and contain no added sugar, so they’re a lot healthier than some of the other bakes we have on this site, making them the perfect bake for kids.
What should I serve oatcakes with?
These oatcakes are a great snack on their own or with a little bit of butter or margarine spread on them. You could also serve them, like you would a cracker with some cheese, or chutney.
What other Scottish recipes can I make?
If you want to browse some of our other Scottish recipes you can find them all together in one place, or check out our favourites:
Millionaire’s shortbread
Cranachan
Oat cakes
Empire biscuits
Scottish shortbread
Scotch broth
Shortbread fingers
Potato scones
Chocolate chip shortbread
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these Scottish oatcakes:
Digital scales
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Rolling pin
Cutters
Baking tray
Wire rack
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Please refer to my Privacy Policy Page for more details.
Serves: 20 biscuits
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20 minutes plus 20 minutes baking
Ingredients
75g (1/3 cup) butter
100g (3/4 cup) plain / all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
225g (2 1/2 cups) porridge/rolled oats
Water
How to make Scottish oatcakes
Preheat your oven to 190C/180C Fan / 350 F and grease or line a few baking trays.
Rub in the butter and flour.
Get your kids to measure the flour and add it to a large mixing bowl. Measure the butter and give your kids a butter knife to cut it into small pieces before adding that to your bowl.
Using fingertips, rub the butter and flour together until your mixture looks like breadcrumbs. While your kids are doing that, add the salt to the mixture.
Add the oats.
Measure the oats into a small bowl. If you want a coarser oatcake you can add them to your mixing bowl straight away. If, like us, you like your oatcakes to be a bit finer use a small mixer to blast the oats to a finer consistency before adding them to your bowl. We did half our oats to a fine powder, and the other half a little less to there was still some bite.
Add some water to your mixing bowl and, using your hands, bring the mixture together into a ball. You’ll need roughly between 60ml and 90ml. Don’t add so much that your dough becomes sticky.
Start mixing the water in with a wooden spoon, before working the dough a little bit to make it come together into a ball.
Bake the oat cakes
Get your kids to roll the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface until it is around 3mm thick.
Cut out the oat cakes using a round cutter. You can choose the size you like, but we used one that was roughly 7cm.
Bake the oat cakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes. They’re ready when they’re starting to turn slightly brown at the edges and aren’t soft any more.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Put them on the wire rack to cool completely.
Serve and enjoy.
Scottish oat cakes
Ingredients
- 75 g butter
- 100 g plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 225 g oats
- Water
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 190C/180C Fan / 350 F and grease or line a few baking trays.
Rub in the butter and flour.
- Measure the flour and add it to a large mixing bowl. Measure the butter and give your kids a butter knife to cut it into small pieces before adding that to your bowl.
- Using fingertips, rub the butter and flour together until your mixture looks like breadcrumbs. While your kids are doing that, add the salt to the mixture.
Add the oats.
- Measure the oats into a small bowl. If you want a coarser oat cake you can add them to your mixing bowl straight away. If, like us, you like your oat cakes to be a bit finer use a small mixer to blast the oats to a finer consistency before adding them to your bowl. We did half our oats to a fine powder, and the other half a little less to there was still some bite.
- Add some water to your mixing bowl and, using your hands, bring the mixture together into a ball. You'll need roughly between 60ml and 90ml. Don't add so much that your dough becomes sticky. We had to work the dough a little bit to make it come together into a ball.
Bake the oat cakes
- Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface until it is around 3mm thick. Cut out the oat cakes using a round cutter. You can choose the size you like, but we used one that was roughly 7cm.
- Bake the oat cakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes. They're ready when they're starting to turn slightly brown and aren't soft any more.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Put them on the wire rack to cool completely.
Pin Scottish oat cakes for later
Similar recipes
If you liked these oatcakes you’ll love our melting moment biscuits and our other easy biscuit and cookie recipes.
This recipe was first published in May 2020, and updated with new pictures in October 2024.