Flakemeal Biscuits
Flakemeal Biscuits are classic, traditional biscuits from Northern Ireland. The biscuit is crunchy, full of oats with a little bit of coconut. And very straightforward to make.
While their traditional name in Northern Ireland is Flakemeal Biscuits, I ended up calling them Oatmeal Cookies when Little Miss Traybakes asked what they were, as she looked at me blankly when I said flakemeal. This didn’t stop her demolishing the chocolate covered ones from the biscuit tin though!
These Flakemeal Biscuits are tasty if left plain, but even better dipped in chocolate. And you could even use these as a sandwich biscuit with some coffee buttercream and then some more buttercream and a walnut on top.
The recipe is pretty straightforward. Simply cream the butter and sugar, then stir in the remaining dry ingredients. And at that stage, it’s almost always easier to get stuck in and mix the dough with your hands. While you are rolling out the dough, it will be a little tricky to work with and will crack around the edges. Thankfully, it’s also a fairly forgiving dough and you just need to stop rolling and press the edges back together before cutting it out into rounds.
I used a 2.25inch/58mm biscuit cutter for my Flakemeal Biscuits. As always, if you choose to make your biscuits larger (or smaller, or thicker!) then adjust your bake times accordingly. And make sure to leave a little space between the rounds as you place them on the baking sheet as they do spread a little when baking.
Flakemeal Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 oz or 110g butter
- 2 oz or 55g sugar
- 5 oz or 150g flakemeal/porridge oats
- 1 oz or 30g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 oz or 30g desiccated coconut
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- chocolate for coating (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F/160C.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Mix in all the other ingredients.
- Turn onto a floured surface and knead briefly to bring the dough together.
- Roll out to a thickness of about 0.5cm. The dough can be little crumbly to work with, but bear with it and just squish it back together again if it starts to break apart.
- Cut into rounds. Place on a lined baking sheet, leaving a little room between biscuits as they will spread slightly. Bake at 325F/160C for 12-15 minutes, or until golden.
- Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Dip the biscuits in melted chocolate, if you prefer.
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5 Comments
Heather Long
Oh you cream the butter and sugar. Never done that I’ve only ever rubbed the butter into the ingredients. Would make them a lot lighter. Gonna have a go at that
Helen
I’ve been baking cakes and scones during lockdown but yesterday decided it was time for some biscuits. My mind immediately went to Flakemeal Biscuits dipped in chocolate. These were a staple bake that my kids loved growing up but I’d not made for years. Hence I found myself googling the recipe and yours popped up. Happy blogging. Off to bake.
Jenny
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
CJ
I use unsalted butter. Thanks!
Wendy Hall
I work in a coffee shop and make these all the time, I use margarine and they are delicious, I double the recipe as there is 6 in my house