Fabulous Flapjacks

I fancied making flapjacks for a while, but never realised how easy the recipe was! With just a few ingredients and a bit of patience, these flapjacks are simple but amazing. I made plain golden syrup flapjacks, but they are very versatile with plenty of different variations. 

My flapjacks, cut and cooled. Very popular with my flatmates.

You will need:

• 250g porridge oats
• 125g butter
• 125g sugar (recipes suggest brown sugar, but I used normal white sugar)
• 2-3 tbsp golden syrup (depending on how dry or moist you want them)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4. Grease a baking tin with butter.
2. Place the golden syrup and butter into a saucepan on medium heat and leave until the butter has melted. Stir well to mix the melted butter and syrup.
3. Add the sugar to the mixture and heat gently until it has dissolved. Stir the mixture again.
4. Add in the porridge oats and stir it all together until the oats are covered with the syrup mixture. The oats should stick together and become harder to stir. 
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and spread it evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula. Make sure the surface is nice and flat. 
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. The flapjack will be slightly soft when you remove it from the oven, and harden when cooled. 
7. Place the tin on a cooling rack and cut the flapjack into squares, rectangles... whatever shape takes your fancy! Leave in the tin to cool and turn out onto the cooling rack. Store the flapjacks in an airtight container such as a plastic food box.

Try adding mixed fruit to your flapjacks!
Photo credit: lickyouownbowl

These flapjacks worked out really well and were popular with my flatmates... as I didn't have a box available, I stored them overnight on a plate wrapped with cling film and they were still good. Next time I make these, I will probably add more golden syrup as I would have liked them to be a bit more gooey. I might also try adding mixed fruit or chocolate. Overall though, these were easy and fun to make, and don't take long at all.

As I said above, flapjacks are very versatile. You could try adding mixed fruit, chocolate chips, drizzles of chocolate on the surface, nuts, spices such as ginger, caramel... the list goes on! BBC Good Food has a long list of variations for you to try out.