Elsa’s Scottish Oat Cakes

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut in butter with a knife or pastry cutter until coarse, mealy crumbs form. Add the ice cold water and stir vigorously with a fork until dough comes together. (The process is very similar to making biscuits, shortcakes and the like—don’t overwork the dough.) Transfer to a lightly floured surface, and shape dough into a ball. Take about a quarter of the dough from the ball, and roll it out to be 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. (Grammie emphasized that you don’t want to over-handle the dough, thus she only rolled and cut a quarter of the dough at a time.) Cut into circles with a biscuit/cookie cutter or inverted drinking glass, or cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets for baking. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake at 350°F until golden (check at 8 minutes). Makes about 2 dozen.

Adapted from a family recipe handed down to me by Elsa and Christy Hodder.