Scotland - Favorite Recipes

A section for my favorite recipes even I can prepare without catastrophy! And a little bit of memory ...

SCONES

Scones (speak like "gone", not like "bone"), comes from the gaelic "sgoon". They are perfect with butter and jam, some additional whipped cream is literally "the cream of the crop". Together with a nice cup of tea a brilliant possibility to remember some beautiful visits in a tea house in Ullapool and mony other locations.

250g or two cups	flour
3 teaspoons	baking powder
30g	sugar
25g	butter or margarine
200g	sour cream
One	egg
Pinch	salt
200g	whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Mix the dry ingredients together first and then add the butter.
Pour in the sour cream and then the beaten egg in the centre of the mixture and mix to obtain a soft elastic dough.

Roll out onto a floured surface to approx. 1-1,5 cm thick.
Cut into triangles, quadrats or rounds with a knife or cookie cutter of about 4 cm size/diameter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until they get a golden brown surface.
Whip the whipping cream.

Cut through in the middle like a roll, spread with butter and jam and serve with whipped cream.

OATCAKES

Oatcakes also can be found traditionally in Scotland, but other regions such as Ireland as well. Oatcakes are quite versatile and can be served with sweet or more solid side dishes - but taste just plain without add-ons as well.

Try them with wathever you can think about, examples could be cheese, butter, jam, smoked fish, sausages ...

A cup of tea firs perfectly in any case ...

There is not "one" oatcake recipe, so also try experimenting with the ingredients, some ideas are collected below (the bold choice is my recommendation)

The recipe yields in about 6 medium-sized oatcakes of approximately 8-10 cm diameter.

60g	Rolled oats (slightly ground) or oatmeal
60g	Whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour or barley meal
1/2 teaspoon	Backing powder
Pinch	Salt
25g	Sugar
100g	Butter or lard or cooking oil
100ml	Buttermilk or water

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Prepare a baking tray, best is to use parchment paper.

Mix the dry ingredients together first.

Cut in the butter (lard, cooking oil) and then mix it together until a dough forms looking like coarse meal.

Pour in the Buttermilk (water) and work the dough with your hands or a rounded knife until it clings together, possible add some more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Separate the dough into 6 lumps, which are spread on the baking tray. Shape the lumps into flat disks of around 8-10cm diameter with your hands.

In order to get them easier divided later on, you can cut the disks in 4 or 6 "pieces of cake", but don't separate them (The dough will flow together during baking, so that the disks will stay together but have "rated break points" after baking).

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until they get blonde - oatcakes should not get really brown.

Turn the oven off. You might leave the oven door ajar for some more minutes making the oatcakes more crispy on the surface - turning them in the warm oven after some minutes crisps them up on the bottom side as well.