still . I had some for tea only three sundays ago ;-)

Here is the original recipe( not modernised) from The Universal Cook and City and Country Housekeeper by Francis Collingwood and John Woolams ( 3rd edition) ( 1807) for you to compare:

To make Muffins and Oat Cakes.

PUT a bushel of Hertfordfhire white flour into your trough, three gallons of milk-warm liquor, and mix in a quart of mild ale, or good small-beer, yeast, and half a pound of salt.

Stir it well about a quarter of an hour, then strain it into the flour, mix your dough as high as you can, and let it lie one hour to rise.

Then with your hand roll it up, and pull it into little pieces as big as a large walnut. Roll them with your hand like a ball, lay them on a table, and as fast as you do them lay a flannel over them, and be sure to keep your dough covered with flannel.

When you have rolled out all your dough, begin to bake the first, and by that time they will be spread out in the right form. Lay them, on your plate, and as the bottom begins to change colour, turn them on the other side.

Take great care that they do not burn. If the middle of your plate be too hot, put a brick or two into the middle of the fire to slacken the heat. The plate you bake on must be thus fixed.