Scottish Oat and Walnut Biscuits are rustic Scottish oatcakes prefect for cheese boards and charcuterie platters ~ and they’re so easy to make!
These unassuming little Scottish oat and walnut biscuits are the hottest things in upscale markets and cheese shops these days. They’re called oatcakes or biscuits in Scotland; we Americans would call them crackers.
But they’re not like any crackers we’re used to. They’re rustic, earthy, and a little shaggy around the edges. They’ve been favorites in the British Isles for centuries where they eat them with tea, or cheese and other savory toppings. They’re amazing with a sharp crumbly English cheddar or a creamy soft blue cheese and a dab of honey. Or even a thick layer of peanut butter. Best of all they’re quick and easy to make. The simple naturally gluten free dough is made from ground oats and oat flour, mixed with buttermilk, and a little melted butter to form a flat ‘cake’, and then baked till crisp. A touch of brown sugar adds a hint of sweetness, and the walnuts add great flavor.
Making these reminds me that the whole concept of flavor is in transition right now. I’ve been really horrified by the ‘flavor overload’ in commercial food these days. Have you seen the ads for ‘water enhancer’? It turns your plain water a neon color of your choice, and flavors it with god knows what. They have the same basic concept for canned frosting, too. Even Crayola has gotten into the act with their own line of vividly colored liquid ‘juice alternatives’.
I don’t know where all that leaves plain old simple pleasures like these oatcakes. You have to pause and let them linger on your tongue for a moment to appreciate their subtle oatiness, their delicate crumbly texture, and the faint hint of brown sugar and walnuts. But the time is well spent. And once you add a chunk of English cheddar you’ll really ‘get’ these crackers.
You can pay a lot of money for the priviledge of having someone else bake and import these rustic cakes for you, or you can just whip them up yourself and spend the money on a nice bottle of wine. Or a few extra bottles of Guinness.
if you like these oat biscuits you might also love
- Easy Welsh Cakes Recipe!
- Darina Allen’s Irish Soda Scones
- Irish Oatmeal Soda Bread
- How to Make Clotted Cream ~ 3 Ways!
- How to Make an Epic Cheese Board
Scottish Oat and Walnut Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut pieces
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Put the oats and the walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground
- Add in the oat flour, sugar, salt and soda and pulse to combine.
- Pour in the buttermilk and melted butter and pulse until the dough comes together.
- Turn out onto a floured surface and bring the dough together. If it feels wet, knead in a little more flour.
- Roll out the dough to about 3/8 inch thick. Cut with a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter.  You can prick the crackers with the tines of a fork if you like the look, but it’s not necessary, the dough doesn’t rise or puff up.
- Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
These turned out amazing! I was on vacation in Scotland and fell in love with oatcakes. Was super excited when I found this gluten free recipe. The walnuts are a nice bonus too. I made my own oat flour in the food pro. I baked them on convection at 325 for 22 min and they came out nice and crisp. I new staple recipe!
That’s great to hear, this recipe was inspired by my time living in London, and we’ve got nothing here in in the US like them.
Any idea how many calories are in one oatcake?
I’m not sure Phyllis, I recommend running the ingredients through a nutrition calculator to see.
I just ran it for you and came up with 103 calories.
I recently discovered you and have made alot of your recipes. The Lemon Poppy Seed Cake has quickly become a favorite. I recently made these and whilst the flavor is great, they didn’t crisp up. I rolled them out to about a 1/4 inch. Left them in for about 25 mins. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong? I really want to master these.
Hey Suzanne! I’m so glad you like the lemon cake, I do too 🙂 As for these biscuits, keep in mind that the traditional oat biscuits don’t really get crisp, they have more of a soft bite, even when fully cooked. It’s a little difficult to describe because, to me, they’re uniquely British, we don’t really have any equivalent here in the US to compare it to.
Well I guess I already mastered them and didn’t even know it! They are definitely going on rotation 🙂 Already printed off the bean salad and am going to try that this weekend. We don’t eat alot of meat in my house and we are always on the lookout for different takes on salads. So glad I found your website.
So glad to have you here <3
We had some commercial oatcakes for Christmas. Ok but had some stuff in them we didn’t want to eat. Then my brother bought some really expensive ones but with walnuts. My wife then searched the web and found these little rippers! I made them and now having trouble keeping up a supply for children and grandchild as the simply inhale them. They are so good and the walnuts just add that extra dimension. Thanks for sharing.
So happy to come across your recipe. I was so anxious to make these, and then realized I did not have any oat flour or buttermilk. Something this minor has never stopped me yet, so I made oats into oat flour in my food processor and then splashed a small amount of vinegar into my milk and voila, I was ready to bake. Also, I substituted pecans for walnuts. I’m trying these out for possibly using at my granddaughters engagement party, and her Mommy does not like walnuts. They turned out delicious!
I’m so glad you were so resourceful Lynda!
Hi Sue.
When you say old fashioned oats do you mean the large flaked rolled oats or steelcut oats? These crackers sound like a lovely addition to a charcuterie board.
I mean the rolled oats, Quaker calls them Old Fashioned to distinguish them from the quick cooking.
Phew thanks for asking I had thought it might mean whole oats not rolled oats?
Can you substitute the walnuts for Brazil nuts? They are high in selenium which is good for thyroid.
I haven’t tried that, but I think it would be worth a try!
Hi!! So happy to have found these. I made them the other day – when do you know to remove them from the oven. Mine are turning out to be a little more brown than yours. If you press down on them, should they be hard and a tad soft? My oven may run differently, it’s a convection oven. Let me know when you can!
Great question, I think you can cook them to different textures, but if you want them really crispy they can cook a little longer. I love them firm but also a little soft when you bite into them. They will firm up as they cool, so you can take them out of the oven when they are slightly soft, if that makes sense. If you love them you can experiment, or, do what I do, bake a test cracker or two to see how your oven performs.
I recently discovered oat cakes. What temperature did you bake the biscuits at?
I bake them at 350F Lisa.
Just seeing these now, since you said you had them on your blog. To be honest, I’ve never tried anything other than plain oatcakes, but these sound wonderful! They look absolutely perfect, too!