In our world, progress and modernisation have become a staple of existence, but there’s one area where development doesn’t necessarily equal improvement, and that’s in the world of baking. The perfect cake or pastry may rely on techniques and recipes that date back hundreds of years. Tried and tested combinations can be trusted to be the best and at the end of the day, if something’s not broken, why fix it?
This theory holds true for the delicious miracle which is the Oatmeal Cake which is also sometimes called a ‘mock pecan pie’.The origins of the recipe are a little unclear with some people attributing it to the American Civil War era and others believing it's an Amish recipe but both these theories attribute its creation to a lack of pecans and using this pie as an innovative workaround.
The ingredients differ from recipe to recipe but they’re all built on the solid foundation of instant oats. The filling is made with sugar, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla and the oats are then stirred in. The filling is then added to a pie shell and baked until golden and nutty brown.
When baked, the oats absorb all the sugars and fats and caramelise for a unique flavour that gives this quick-fix pie its ‘pecan’ quality. The most labour-intensive part of the recipe is definitely the pie crust itself, so if you want to save some time you can make the crust ahead of time and freeze it or buy read-made crust from a store.
Ingredients:
- 2 Eggs
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup corn syrup
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup instant oats
- ⅓ cup shredded coconut
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
For the pie crust:
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 250 gms butter, cold and diced
- 7-9 tbsp ice water
Method:
- Start by prepping your pie crust. Pour the flour and cold, diced butter into a bowl and rub it between your fingers until it turns into a rough crumb.
- Slowly add in a little water at a time until it just comes together in a dough.
- Wrap it and put it in the fridge for half an hour to chill.
- Roll the dough out and shape it into your baking tray and cut away the excess.
- Fill the crust with baking beans or any weights and blink bake it for 20 minutes at 180°C.
- When the crust baking, start prepping your filling. Add eggs to a bowl and beat until foamy.
- Slowly add the sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla essence, mix wekk.
- Add the oats, coconut and flour and stir until it’s evenly mixed.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell and bake at 180°C for another 40-50 minutes until the centre is firm.
- Cool and serve with cream or ice cream.