These crumbly flapjacks will keep for a couple of weeks - well, if you are able to resist them. Which I don't think you can! Easy to make, so you can knock up a batch of these in just a few minutes. I've made them a little more special by adding some mixed seeds and some dried fruit.
Mixed seeds
These flapjacks are seriously moreish. Just so that I feel a little less guilty when I have that extra flapjack, I decided to add something to their nutritional value. Seeds contain good fats that are often missing from our diet. The first time I made this variation was at my holiday cottage in Suffolk. While I have a fairly well equipped kitchen there, I do not keep too much food in stock, so for the sake of convenience I bought a packet of mixed seeds containing sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pinenuts and linseed seeds. Although convenient, it is generally a more expensive way of buying seeds, and it may be quite a bit cheaper to buy packets of individual seeds and make up your own mix. When kept sealed they keep well in the refrigerator or freezer. I keep a jar of mixed seeds in the fridge at home and often sprinkle them on a salad. Whichever blend of seeds you use, I would recommend to include some pumpkin seeds. They gave a lovely extra crunch.
Dried fruit
I also like to add a little dried fruit to a flapjack to give them more flavour. Chopped dried apricots work well. Recently I have had a bit of a thing for dried cranberries - I frequently add them to cakes and biscuits, so decided to try them with flapjacks too. I like both variations equally. You don't have to stop there though - sultanas, dried cherries, dried blueberries, etc - all would work well. If you try one of those instead, do tell me what you think, and why not rate the recipe while you are at it.
Step by step flapjacks
Seedy fruit flapjacks
Equipment
- 20cm square shallow cake tin
Ingredients
- 125 g butter
- 125 g light muscovado sugar
- 2 tablespoon golden syrup
- 250 g rolled oats
- 50 g mixed seeds
- 50 g dried apricots chopped, dried cranberries or sultanas
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan)/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
- Place 125 g butter, 125 g light muscovado sugar and 2 tablespoon golden syrup in a large saucepan and heat gently over a low heat. Stir until the the butter has melted and combined with the sugar.
- Add 250 g rolled oats, 50 g mixed seeds and 50 g dried apricots. Mix well. Tip into the prepared cake tin and press level with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and mark into squares.
- Allow to cool slightly. Remove from the tin and cut into squares before the flapjacks have cooled completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Cutting into squares
Flapjacks need to be cut into squares while still warm. If you enjoy baking then I really recommend that you invest in some decent tins. Good quality tins will not buckle in the oven and will bake more evenly. If looked after they will last a lifetime, so in my opinion cheap tins are a false economy. Never cut in your tins with a metal knife as this will scratch and damage the surface causes bakes to stick. For cakes I often use a plastic "lettuce" knife (apparently they cut lettuce without bruising but who on earth would buy a knife just to cut lettuce!!!) but for cutting cakes such as tray bakes in the tin they are ideal I got mine from Lakeland. Flapjacks need a sharper knife so I mark mine as soon as they come out of the oven. Then allow the mix to cool for a few minutes before lifting out of the tin and cutting completely on board. Judging when to cut them is probably the hardest bit of the recipe. Too hot and the mixture sticks to the knife making it hard to make another cut, too cold and the flap jacks fall apart, but lets face it, it hardly matters if they are not cut into perfect squares, they still taste scrummy.
Lee says
Love these, just made another lot but added a few spices to the mix, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg… yummy!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Delighted you liked them Lee the addition of spices sound good
Lisa says
i made these a few weeks ago but adapted the recipeas I am doing slimming world going to make them again
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
glad you liked them. What adaptations did you make?
Jeff says
Just made these, and very pleased with them
So this week’s breakfasts are taken care of. Thanks!!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Hi Jeff I make them often and am so pleased you like them too.
Emma says
I’ve just made these and they are really delicious.
Luckily I was able to cut most of them into squares, with just a few crumbly bits that I will be eating with ice cream later!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I think they are delicious too and made another batch myself this weekend. Got the baking/cutting so spot on there were no crumbly cook's perks for me to sneakly eat!
Annaliese Brown says
These are simply gorgeous, and so easy to make. I made one batch and slightly overcooked them so the edges were browner (I don't have the correct size tray). One a day was my ration, but I ate the last one yesterday, and they were so lovely I've just started making another batch. I added pecan nuts to mine with the pumpkin seeds and apricot.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
So pleased you liked them and thank you for taking the time to let me know and rate the recipe. I love the idea of pecan nuts in them!
Jane Vick says
I made this today and it’s really amazing and I will definitely make them again. I did have a problem with them not really sticking so when I tried to cut them the just crumbled. I’ve still managed to eat them.
Thank you
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I'm so pleased you like these. They are an old recipe of mine and i love the crunchiness of them but it does make them a little tricky to cut. The trick to stopping them crumbling apart is to cut them at just the right time. Too soon and they dont cut too late and the crumble. But as you say if they crumble its not the end of the world they still taste amazing.
Juanita says
Is there a substitute for butter I could use to make the flapjacks suitable for vegans, please? Have you any suggestions?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I ahve used dairy-free Soya Pure margarine in place of butter successfully in baking, but any dairy free fat that is suitable for baking should be ok. Avoid low fat spreads as they do not have a high enough fat content to work when baking.
Emma says
Made this this evening, absolutely delicious
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Emma, I'm so glad you liked them thank you for taking time to comment, its always lovely to hear good feed back. j x
Natalie says
I just made those and they didn't even get a chance to cool down completely let alone standing a chance of being kept for 2 weeks! I used the handle of a spoon to carefully mark the squares (I don't have a lettuce knife!) which worked fine. Baked them for little over 25 minutes and they are very yummy. The other half says they are addictive. We really like the addition of the seeds and dried fruits. These will be a firm favourite in our house!
Jacqui says
So glad you liked them. and I totally agree they are addictive. I havent tried using a wooden spoon to mark into squares. Its ok to use a normal knife but dont cut all the way through while they are still in the tin so that you do not damage the tin