Make it don't buy it: flapjacks recipe

Gooey, sticky flapjacks straight from the oven. Why buy these when making them is so fun and easy?

While, like chocolate brownies, you can buy a big box of flapjacks from a supermarket for a pound or so, those are normally dry and unfulfilling. The ingredients for flapjacks are very basic and cheap, and if you decide to make your own, you can make them as chewy or crunchy as you like.

This is a good recipe to make with children, as it's fast and involves minimal engagement with heat and sharp objects. If they're stirring the oats in, best to hold the pan though. 

Gooey or brittle?

The recipe below outlines a method for making very gooey, chewy flapjacks. If you want to have more of a crunchy texture, use a little less syrup, roll the mixture thinner in the tin and turn up the temperature slightly to around 190/200°C. You can even pack more porridge oats in if you're strong enough.

Make it more interesting

You can add chocolate chips to the mix for extra indulgence, or drizzle chocolate on top.

You can also add raisins or dried apricots (or other dried fruit) but I personally think that this recipe is best when it focuses on the buttery, sugary flavour.

 

Notes on oats

If it's more convenient for you, substitute the 200g of jumbo oats for 200g of porridge oats. This will result in a less crunchy texture. Note that you shouldn't do this the other way round, as you will likely find that your flapjacks will be too crumbly. 

Ingredients

Details

  • Cuisine: English
  • Recipe Type: Dessert
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Preparation Time: 10 mins
  • Cooking Time: 25 mins
  • Serves: 10

Step-by-step

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Melt the butter over a very low heat on the hob, stirring occasionally, and very lightly grease a shallow 23cm baking tin with butter
  2. When the butter is fully melted, add the syrup and brown sugar and stir until thoroughly mixed in, keeping the pan over a very low heat.
  3. Next, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the oats a little at a time. It's easier to make sure that all the oats are getting well covered if you don't just dump them all in at once, and this reduces the potential for a messy hob too.
  4. Stir all the oats in, making sure that they're all really well covered with the syrup, butter and sugar blend.
  5. Tip the mixture out into the greased baking tin, and pack it down hard with the back of a wooden spoon.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then raise the temperature to 200°C and bake for another 5-10 minutes. The flapjacks should now be a fair amount darker on top, but not burned, and the mixture will be quite gooey. Remove the tin from the oven, and score lines with a sharp knife to mark out your squares.
  7. Leave the tin on a heatproof surface to cool for about 10-15 minutes, then cut your squares properly and place on a wire rack to fully cool.

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