Scottish Oatcakes with Butter and Dates

Makes 3 dozen oatcakes

MY GRANDMOTHER JESSIE, my namesake, came to live with us when I was thirteen. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, of Scottish descent, she was a wonderful person but a bad cook—I got neither my enthusiasm for cooking nor any recipes from her. The one good thing I do remember her baking was oatcakes. She never wrote down the recipe, so I had to reverse-engineer it from memory.

These oatcakes are gently sweet, more cracker than cookie, but it’s that sweetness that makes them excellent topped with creamy blue cheese or a slather of good salted Irish butter. If you care to gild the lily, a sliver of Medjool date on top of either cheese or butter does the trick.

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole-wheat flour

½ cup oat bran

⅓ cup packed light brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

¼ cup water

Salted butter (preferably Kerrygold), at room temperature, or soft blue cheese (such as Saint Agur), at room temperature, for serving

Pitted Medjool dates, quartered, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the oats, flour, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, and sea salt in a bowl. Add the cubed butter and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until the butter is in pea-size pieces. Pour in the water and stir until a crumbly dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to compact the dough into a ball.

With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut the dough into rounds with a 2-inch round cutter and transfer to unlined baking sheets, spacing them about half an inch apart (they do not spread). Roll out scraps and repeat.

Bake the oatcakes until golden brown on the edges, about 13 minutes. Let cool on the pan. The oatcakes will keep in an airtight container for up to a week or can be frozen for up to a month.

To serve, spread each oatcake with some of the butter or blue cheese and top with a date quarter.