Homemade Oatcakes

Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes defy categorization. What food group does an item belong to when it’s just as good as an hors d’oeuvre as it is an ice cream topper? The product may be difficult to define, but its versatility is clear.

It became particularly evident at the 2008 Fancy Food Show in New York, where founders Irene Costello and Joan MacIsaac serendipitously met the folks from Vermont’s Grafton Village Cheese Company. The cheese specialists were impressed by Effie’s and quickly discovered that the oatcakes paired beautifully with their cheeses. A year later, Grafton pairs its in-store cheddar samples exclusively with Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes.

Oatcakes aren’t new to the marketplace—they hail from Scotland and made their way to Nova Scotia when many Scots settled there—but Effie’s are a bit different. Their pure ingredients (flour, rolled oats, sugar, butter, organic palm oil, water, salt and baking soda) are similar to those found in traditional Scottish oatcakes, but their taste and texture are more like a biscuit or shortbread.

In fact, when British travelers happen upon Effie’s, they are often surprised, says MacIsaac. “They taste one and say, ‘Oh, this is a biscuit, darling (not a traditional Scottish oatcake)!’”

Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes ($5.99 for 12 or $1.75 for a two-biscuit package) are available in gourmet and specialty food stores throughout the northeast and nationally at effieshomemade.com. –Kara Mayer Robinson

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