Norwegian style oat cookies, or oat biscuits if you like, are an excellent addition to your kitchen cupboard. They’re easy to make, keep for a long time and can be eaten with just about anything.
I enjoy them on their own as a snack, with cheese (nothing beats brown cheese, but matured or blue cheeses are also excellent) or even some jam. I crumble them into instant cheesecake-like desserts and, if I were to bake a proper cheesecake, I’d probably use them for that, too.
How to make these cookies
To be able to make these as often as possible, I’ve developed a clever trick which reduces the time it takes to shape the dough into biscuits quite dramatically.
Many Norwegian recipes will tell you to roll out the dough and use a cup or glass to cut out the biscuits. Then you need to collect the offcuts, roll out again and repeat until there’s no dough left.
Not me.
After gently mixing the dough ingredients (no kneading required), I shape them into small balls the size of golf balls. Then, using a flat-bottomed cup (I use a tapas glass) covered with a small piece of baking parchment, I press the dough balls into flat cookies. This only takes a second or two for each biscuit.
This little trick could surely be useful in other recipes too, so keep it in mind even if you don’t plan on trying out this week’s recipe (though I highly recommend you do).
Serving suggestion
Oat cookies are best enjoyed with Norwegian brown cheese, but if it’s not available where you live, they’re excellent on their own alongside coffee or tea. They also work well with matured cheese (blue cheese is particularly excellent) and jam.
If you’re a dessert person, these oat cookies are great in most recipes calling for crumbled oat or wheat biscuits, as long as they don’t need to be super light and airy.
Store in a tight container at room temperature and they’ll keep for days.
Norwegian oat cookies
Ingredients
- 150 g porridge oats
- 150 g wholemeal flour, finely ground variety
- 75 g sugar
- 1 generous pinch salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 100 g butter, melted
- 100 g whole milk
- 30 g honey, a runny one
How I make it
- Preheat the oven to
160 °C, fan-assisted. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. - Mix the dry ingredients. Add melted butter, milk and honey. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix well until the dough comes together. You don’t need to knead it. Leave to rest for a few minutes.
- Divide the dough into balls approx. 30 g/1 oz each (roughly the size of small plums). Place 10 on each baking sheet, then flatten them with a wide, flat-bottomed cup covered with a small piece of baking parchment until they're 7–8 cm (3 in) in diameter. The edges will look cracked – you can smoothen them with your fingers, if you wish (you don't have to).
- Bake until starting to turn more golden at the edges than in the middle, 20–25 minutes. In my oven, they’re perfect at 22 minutes, but each and every oven is different. Leave to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled (though you can enjoy them while still warm).
Delicious and so easy. 22 minutes was perfect. Mine were about two inches, but look just like the photos.