Going for a walk on a Sunday with the dogs on a misty Autumn morning is one of life’s old fashioned pleasures With luck there are blue skies, autumn leaves and some crab apples or sloes peeking through the hedges. Simple but timeless pleasures.
Flapjacks. There is nothing to beat the smell of them coming out of the oven. Buttery, honked and oaty toasty. Somehow though flapjacks seem out of fashion and not often on offer. Maybe it’s because flapjacks are seen as being worthily oaty and, if we are going to have that sort of thing, people will go for an energy bar. Flapjacks are relegated to something that your granny made – and often overbaked -making them so claggy and hard when you bit into them you were afraid that you would need to visit the dentist from a lost tooth or filling.This simple recipe should hopefully make you change your mind. The addition of cornflakes/rice crispies make them light and moreish. They keep well in the biscuit tin and there is nothing like them for when you come back in after a brisk walk with the dogs and fancy a big mug of tea/coffee or want to pop a treat into a lunchbox. Or, as is common in our house, to take with you when you are running late and haven’t had time to eat
Flapjacks cooling
They are ridiculously easy and quick to make. I have cut down on the sugar in this recipe I often add 50g of nuts to this recipe (pecans being a real favourite) or dried ready-to-eat fruit such as apricots or prunes One friend of mine loves drizzling melted dark chocolate in thin dark lines over the baked cooled flapjacks but whatever you decide to add to them they are worth making and reintroducing to your biscuit tin!
Ingredients (makes 12)
- 125g butter
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 75g caster sugar
- 50g sultanas (or other dried fruit or nuts, chopped to sultana size)
- 50g self raising flour
- 50g rolled oats
- 75g cornflakes or rice crispies
Method
- Heat oven to 200c
- Line a baking tray (20×20 cm or equivalent) with baking parchment
- Take a largish saucepan and melt together the butter and syrup stirring until combined
- Remove pan from heat and add all the remaining ingredients. Stir well to combine, crushing the cornflakes slightly in the process
- Press into the lined baking tin making sure mix goes into corners. It should be about a couple of centimetres thick
- Bake for 15 mins till lightly golden. Overbaking is not recommended!! (Thats where granny went wrong!)
- Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out and cutting into pieces. Leave on cooling rack until completely cold and store in an airtight tin. If they last, once family and friends have discovered how delicious they are, these flapjacks actually do keep well
