The perfect autumn platter: blue cheese (preferably Whitestone), quince paste, some freshly cracked walnuts and a pile of Lois’ oatcakes. These oatcakes taste very much like those expensive ones that I am always sucked into buying through their clever positioning in the cheese aisle. Lois’ oatcakes contain inexpensive ingredients and are easy and relatively quick to throw together. There is a distinct possibility that making these crackers would take about the same amount of time as driving down to the supermarket for crackers. This theory is completely untested.

Lois’ oatcakes (A Good Year, p.85)

1 cup white flour

1 cup rolled oats,
pulsed in a food processor

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

50g butter melted in 1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 170°C. Put all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and pour in the butter and hot water. Knead together in the bowl until the mixture holds together. Lightly flour a large clean bench and tip out the dough. Knead a few more times before rolling out thinly. Use a knife to cut into shapes – I went with slender rectangles (or rather, attempted). Use a metal spatula to transfer to a lined baking tray and bake for 10 – 15 minutes until brown and crisp. Keep a close eye on them – you may need to move the crackers around if the ones on the edges are browning more quickly than the rest. Leave to cool on a cooling rack and store in an airtight container. They keep for around two weeks (maybe even longer if they get the opportunity).