From Tallulah’s Kitchen: Oat Biscuits

Hello my fellow foodies and welcome to May’s edition of The Listing.
This month I would like to share with you a recipe for Oat Biscuits. These are one of those simple and comforting recipes that once made, you wonder why you haven’t made them for so long. They are a firm favourite in the Le Fey household and they always seem to disappear as if by magic whenever I make a batch and thus, unfortunately, I have no idea how long they keep, but I imagine in an airtight tin you may have a day or two.

Oat Biscuits
140g room temperature butter
50g granulated sugar
3 tbsp syrup
10 drops of vanilla extract
110g wholemeal flour
40g self-raising flour
150g porridge oats
20g stone ground oatmeal
Large pinch of salt

Let’s begin by creaming the butter and the sugar until you have a light-coloured and fluffy-textured mixture. This should take about five minutes or so in your mixer. Next, mix in the syrup and vanilla essence and continue to beat on a slow speed. Gradually add the flours, oats, oatmeal and salt and continue to mix only until the mixture comes together to form a dough. Take care not to over mix – this will cause a tough texture in the finished biscuits. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour – this will make the dough slightly easier to handle.

When you are ready to roll, switch on your oven and set it to 180° and line your baking tray with grease or parchment paper

Because of the high butter content these biscuits are short and tricky to handle, so I like to roll the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment. Once rolled out to a thickness of approximately 5-7mm, cut out circles using a 7cm biscuit cutter. I prefer to use a plain rather than fluted cutter as the oats in the mixture tend to destroy the delicate scalloped edging of a fluted cutter and leave them looking too untidy for my eye. You will need a pallet knife to lift the biscuits onto the tray.

Next, pop the tray into the centre of the oven and bake for a little over 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them though as you may need to turn the tray halfway through to ensure an even bake. You are looking to achieve a golden-brown colour at the biscuits’ edge and a little light lifting in the centre of the biscuits. Take care as they will burn quickly! I leave my biscuits on the baking sheet for a few minutes after they come out of the oven to firm up a little, and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Now all that remains is for you to pop on the kettle and tuck in. Of course, if you are feeling decadent you could drizzle melted chocolate over the top of these oaty treats or even sandwich them together with a dollop of butter cream and a tiny hidden splodge of jam. I would love to know of any variations you come up with!

Until next time dear reader…

Talullah Le Fey