Pile of memories

I know, another food blip. Well it was this or the risotto (too steamy to get a decent snap of that).

These are the biscuits my mam used to make pretty much every weekend. They're oaty, so semi-healthy, and just delicious. I've been meaning to get the recipe for years and finally managed to get it today (no espionage needed, I just phoned up and asked). I think it's the recipe off the back of the porridge oats we used to buy in the 70s - so it's not a family secret or anything.

Having not had them for about 25 years, I couldn't remember what they tasted like. Then I opened the oven door and smelled them, and suddenly I was back in our kitchen in 1978 standing on a chair stirring the gravy for Sunday lunch, with mam making the most of the hot oven by putting some biscuits in too. Heaven forbid that I get distracted and let any lumps develop in the gravy, but I knew that before bed we'd get oat biscuits and milk.

There's nothing like a smell to haul you back through the years. I'm off to get a glass of milk, some biscuits and call mam for a chat.


RECIPE:

4oz fat*
4oz sugar
1tsp bicarb of soda
1tsp boiling water
1tsp golden syrup
4oz breakfast (rolled) oats
4oz self raising flour

*recipe calls for 2oz lard and 2oz of marg OR 4oz marg. I used 4oz of butter and no-one seems to have died or become more middle class.

1. Melt fat and sugar in pan.
2. Add bicarb, water and syrup. Stir lots.
3. Stir in oats and flour.
4. Put teaspoonfuls on baking tray (with greaseproof paper, though they don't stick to the tray if you get them off quick)
5. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes (I found this too much time even at 170C in the fan oven. And they're much better undercooked than overcooked.)

Enjoy.