A Totally Versatile and Foolproof Flapjack Recipe

This post is a little late in coming, but worth the wait I promise! A while ago, I was contacted to take part in a BakingMad.com campaign about summer recipes. For those of you who aren't aware, BakingMad.com is a great site created from a collaboration of Allinson Flour, Billington's Sugar, Silver Spoon, Askey's and Neilson Massey (makers of the greatest vanilla extract in my opinion). It is a great place to go for ideas, tips, recipes, offers and competitions, a real hub for the nations bakers, and worth an hour of your time to go and browse all they have to share. 

The brief for this challenge was to share my favourite summer-time recipe, and believe it or not, this is it. Not only are flapjacks a great picnic treat, and perfect for taking on a summer-time adventure, but for a person who works from the driver's seat of their car, the summer months prove difficult to take a lunch that doesn't melt, curdle, dry out or just generally turn warm and mushy, flapjack are a great, versatile and filling treat to have in my bag that won't spoil in the warmth. Plus, this recipe is so easy to adapt, I can add all kinds of great flavours and make really tasty, nutritious variations. 

Honey, Tropical Fruit and Nut Flapjacks - recipe here

The Basic Recipe

100g salted butter

100g clear honey

100g golden caster sugar

200g rolled oats

Combine the butter, honey and sugar in a pan, and place over a low heat until the butter and sugar have melted. Remove from the heat and pour over the rolled oats in a mixing bowl. Mix well until all the oats are coated. Transfer to an 8 inch lined tin, and press the mixture down evenly with the back of a spoon. Bake at 170 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown all over. Remove from the oven, and take a knife immediately and mark where you want to cut slices. Allow to cool completely in the tin. Turn out, and cut into slices.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can add just about anything to the basic ingredients, dried fruits, flavours, nuts, chocolate chips, between 100 - 150 grams of additional ingredients to the above recipe will work. 

Almond and Cherry Flapjacks

This is my latest favourite flavour combination, with the hint of a Bakewell Tart in a portable oat-y form! Using the above recipe, just add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 1/2 tablespoon cherry brandy to the melted butter mixture, and 50g ground almonds and 100g chopped glace cherries to the oats. Simples! 

Almond and Cherry Flapjacks

Check out more great picnic recipes over at BakingMad.

Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

I think everyone has a handful of easy recipes that they make over and over again because they are simple and they taste good. They become a weekly feature in the home, and almost a habit for the baker, until one weekend, you forget, or have commitments that prevent you from making that regular batch, and suddenly you break the habit and don't have any for ages. Chocolate Brownies are one of mine, and Flapjack is another.

Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

I adore flapjack for its simplicity, a few ingredients in a bowl, bake it and done, and also because it just about convinces me that I'm taking a healthy choice over cake or pudding... ok, I said just about! 

I particularly like this recipe for two reasons, one because I have adapted it over time to have the easiest list of ingredients and quantities to remember by heart, and secondly because of the use of honey rather than golden syrup, which gives the flapjack a really subtle flowery taste rather than sticky sweet. (You could always directly replace the honey for golden syrup if you wished however.)

The Recipe

100 grams butter

100 ml honey

100 grams golden caster sugar

200 grams rolled or porridge oats

100 grams mixed fruit and nuts (I have used chopped hazelnuts, dried apricots, mango and pineapple, and glace cherries here, - but feel free to mix up to your tastes with this - you could have lots of flavours like me, or keep it simple with one or two key ingredients)

Makes 16 square flapjacks, or 8 breakfast bars.

To make the flapjacks, line a 20 cm square tin with baking parchment and grease well. 

Put the butter, honey and caster sugar in a saucepan, and heat until the butter and sugar are melted and then stir all the ingredients until well combined.

Meanwhile put the rolled oats, fruit and nuts into a large bowl and stir together. Pour over the butter and honey mixture, and stir well until all of the oats and fruit are coated. 

Transfer the mixture to the lined tin, and spread evenly, pushing the mixture into the corners and pressing down flat with the back of a spoon or spatula. 

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. Avoid letting the edges burn.

Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack still in the tin. Leave to cool for 3-4 minutes, and then whilst the mixture is still warm, use a pallet knife to slice the flapjacks into the sizes required. 

Leave in the tin to cool completely, then lift out of the tin using the baking parchment. You may need to re-cut the slices here with a knife, by just cutting through the marks made with the pallet knife. 

Flapjacks will keep well in an airtight tin for 7-10 days... not that they have ever lasted that long in our house...