When I was a child I had a cookbook – the Usbourne first cookbook or something along those lines. I can’t remember much of what was in it, but I do remember there was a flapjack recipe and I loved it. My mother had a red square-shaped baking tin and that was the one we always used for flapjacks.
A few weeks ago, while planning my craft weekend, I decided that it would be a good idea to bring some tasty homemade snacks with us. They would have to travel well and keep for a few days. Cake, however tasty it is, is never as good when it is a day or two old. Brownies are great for staying moist, but they can be very heavy. But flapjacks, being packed with oats and seeds, are satisfying without being heavy or terribly sweet.
Thr trouble was I hadn’t made flapjacks in about 25 years. I needed to do a bit of research. As ever, I couldn’t just stick to one recipe. I browsed a few of my books and magazines, rooted in the cupboards for ingredients and brought up a few walnuts from our stash in the cellar.
The end result was a batch of buttery, oaty flapjack bars with a hint of saltiness. The girls loved them and all asked for the recipe. To be honest, they were fairly addictive. So here is the recipe now, below.
Makes 12 bars or 36 small square flapjacks
Ingredients
200g rolled oats
25g linseeds
20g sesame seeds
50g plain white flour
A handful of chopped walnuts
A pinch of sea salt
60g sugar
2 dsps golden syrup
120g butter
Method
Set the oven to 180°C (fan). Line a baking tin (mine is 20 x 25cm) with baking parchment. This makes removing the flapjacks from the tin without breaking them much easier.
Combine the dry ingredients, including the nuts, in a mixing bowl.
Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over a low heat.
Stir the melted butter and syrup into the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until everthing is wet.
Press the oaty mass into the baking tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 15-20 minutes then remove from the oven and leave to cool for 2 hours removing from the tin.
Once fully cooled, cut into bars or squares and store in an airtight container. I wrapped my bars in baking parchment to give them a prettier look but also to prevent them from sticking to each other while in the container.
We ate the flapjack bars as part of breakfast and as snacks with tea throughout the day. With no need for plates and pastry forks, no cumbs and no mess, they were perfect for us as we crocheted, knit and sewed our way through the weekend.
I’m just about to make up a batch for snacking on at my desk this coming week since breakfasting with the boys at 7am on school mornings leaves me in need of a pick up around 10am.