Wartime Oat Biscuits Recipe

Makes 20

These biscuits are delicious and super easy to make. They are slightly less sweet than many biscuits today, but they are definitely morish. A fantastic 1940s recipe that is great to make even with the smallest helpers.

Home baked Wartime Oat Biscuits

Ingredients

4 oz (115 g) margarine or butter

3 oz (85 g) of sugar 7 oz (200 g) of rolled oats5 oz (150 g) self-raising flour or plain flour sifted with 1 teaspoon of baking powder

pinch of salt (optional)1 reconstituted dried egg or fresh egg A little milk

Method

1)     Pre-heat the oven to 180C (350F) or Gas Mark 4.

2)     Grease two baking trays well or use parchment/baking paper instead.

3)     Cream the margarine/butter with the sugar until soft and light.

4)     Add the rolled oats and mix.

5)     Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl and mix

6)     Add the egg into the mixture and mix well again before adding in a little milk to moisten. The dough should be stiff and quite dry but sticks together. Knead together.

7)      Divide out mixture into about 20 lumps the size of a walnut.

8)     Press between palms to flatten to about 1/4 inch thick and place on baking tray and press into shape.

9)     Bake for about 15 minutes until edges are golden.

10)  Leave on baking trays to cool.

Top Tips

·       Butter really adds to the flavour so this would be my personal preference. You can also use a combination of margarine and butter if you don’t want to use all your butter ration

·       If you are worried about using your precious egg ration then they work fine without egg at all, just had a little more milk to get the right consistency.

Want to find out about food rationing during the second world war? Have a look at our Introduction to Rationing article.