Catholic Recipe: Oat Cakes for St. Columba

Also Called: Bannocks;

An Irish and Scottish patron, St. Columba is often remembered by cooking oat cakes and placing a coin in one to find for a prize. The oat cakes would be similar to the oat or rye cakes his monks would eat. And these bannocks are similar to the French galette.

The original recipes from St. Columba included foraging seaweed and including them in the oatcakes.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt the lard and butter in small pan over a low heat. Place the oatmeal, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter and lard and enough boiling water to make a moist dough. On a work surface sprinkled with oatmeal to prevent sticking, turn out dough and roll as thinly as possible. Cut into circles with a cookie cutter and either cook on a lightly oiled griddle until the edges curl up or bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning the oatcakes over after 15 minutes of baking.