My paternal grandmother was Scottish and her family name was “Nairn.” My West Indian followers may not know that there is a very well known brand of oatcakes sold in the UK with the brand name “Nairns,” which I have been able to find in St. Lucia from time to time.

I started eating oatcakes some time ago because the glycemic index is lower than the average cracker. Mark and I have them as the scooper for hummus and with cheese mostly, but they can be used wherever you would usually have a cracker.

It turns out that my granddaughter loves these oatcakes. So it should really be no wonder to you all that I felt compelled to make some myself when there were none to be had here in the supermarket in St. Lucia.

Two things surprised me: how easy and inexpensive they are to make, and how actually delicious. They almost taste like a digestive biscuit and are as crumbly and crisp.

The bigger “flakes” in the photo below are old fashioned porridge oats (these are organic btw). It simply means they haven’t been all chopped up for ease of cooking. The powdery stuff is oat bran (also organic) A whole grain contains three segments of a seed — the endosperm, germ and bran. As the name indicates, oat bran only contains the bran of the seed, which means it is not a complete whole grain. Rolled oats derive from whole oat groats, which are whole grains — produced when rollers mash down the groats and create flat flakes. Rolled oats are also known as oatmeal.

Scottish Oat Cakes Recipe

Makes 20

200g porridge oats

25g oat bran

60g butter

60g whole-wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda)

30 to 50 ml water hot from kettle

Heat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF).

Place all the dry ingredients into the food processor and blitz. Add the water and continue to process until it starts to come together. You will have to use discretion here as to how much water you actually use.

The great thing with this dough is that you don’t have to be delicate with it. If the dough isn’t coming together simply add a few more drops of water and process a bit more.

I used a 68mm (2 5/8”) cookie cutter but a whiskey glass does just as good a job.

Roll out to the thickness you see here which is probably only a few millimetres and place on a baking sheet. Bake until golden brown.

Place on a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.