Fruity flapjacks
April 25, 2012
I love flapjack, it gives me (an often) much needed mid morning boost and serves as a great breakfast if I'm dashing out the door. Whilst they are quite sugary the oats give slow release energy to prolong the quick burst you'll get from the sugar and the fruit is delicious and chewy, making little pockets of natural sweetness.
Recipe:
Makes 16 bars.
200g butter
200g dark soft brown sugar
5 tbsp golden syrup
150g dried fruit, I used a mixture of cranberries, strawberries, sultanas and apple
250g oats
Set the oven to 180c.
Before you start find a baking tin that is about an inch deep, 30cm long and 20cm wide, line this with baking or greaseproof paper, it will be what you pour your oat mixture into and the final shape of your flapjack. If you prefer a 'cake slice' shape for your flapjack then use a round tin, use anything you like really but make sure its about an inch deep so your flapjacks remain chewy and not like a biscuit.
Cut the butter into a saucepan and pour in the sugar, spoon in the golden syrup and melt together for about 5 mins until you have a glossy, dark golden brown molten mixture. Do be very careful as it will very incredibly hot and sticky, so if you drop it on yourself it will stick and burn!
In a separate bowl whilst your syrup mixture is bubbling away mix together your oats and dried fruits. If the fruits are a bit big, like the apple slices I used, chop them into bite sized pieces so that when you chomp into your flapjack you don't end up with it attached to your face via a stubborn piece of dried apple.
I used fruit in these bars but you can add anything you fancy: fruit, nuts, chocolate, seeds.. the world is your oyster, or flapjack really.
Once your syrup mixture is a dark glossy brown, carefully pour it over your oats, using a silicon spatula scrape around the side of the pan to get all the lovely buttery syrup out. Then mix the liquid into the oats well so that they are completely coated and sticky.
Tumble the syrupy oats into your lined tray and using a second bit of greaseproof paper, smooth down the surface of the oats. Make sure there are no thin bits sticking up at the sides of the tray, they will burn on the oven and make the finished flapjack bitter.
Pop in the oven for about 20-25 min, check after this time that the sides have coloured a little and come away from the paper as one 'wall'. What I then do is turn off the oven, take the flapjack out and flip it upside down onto another baking tray lined with paper, this one doesn't have to have side at all. I then leave the flapjack in the cooling oven so that the bottom of the flapjack gets a little hardened, I find this gives a great chewy crust to all the bars rather than just at one end of them.
When the oven has cool, removed the flapjack and cut in half length ways and in half width ways. Then cut each of the quarters in half width ways again, and in half again. This will give you 16 finger shaped bars of flapjack, perfect for a mid morning boost but not too much as to give you a sugar overdose.. unless you eat more than one.
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