I came up with these flapjacks as a welcome treat for participants on one of my courses at Seasoned cookery school. The original idea came from Georgia, who is a wonderful home economist on the Great British Bake Off. She made a stack of these for us during one of the weekends of filming. I’ve added a few extras including the juice and zest of lemon. You can use all sorts of dried fruits, nuts and seeds, so this is a great way to finish up the contents of all those little bags in your store cupboard. Packed with flavour and nourishing ingredients, these flapjacks will keep you going during a long morning.
Preheat oven to 170C/350 Gas. Grease a swiss roll tin (roughly 33cm X 22cm) with butter.
Wet Ingredients
- 250 g butter
- 3 tbls Maple syrup or honey (maple syrup will give extra flavour. Buy the amber coloured one – not the dark caramel one for this recipe). But honey is good too
- Juice and zest of 2 lemons
- 200g of light muscovado sugar
- 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract
Leaving aside the vanilla extract, melt all the other ingredients together over a low heat. When melted, take off heat and add the vanilla extract.
Dry Ingredients
- 500g of jumbo oats
- 500g Fruit/nut mixture of your choice: for example, chopped almonds, pistachios, walnuts or pecans, dessicated coconut, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sour cherries, cranberries, chopped, dried golden apricots, papaya.
NOTE: There is no need to buy all of the suggested ingredients, but use at least 5 of them for variety and colour. Good for using up bits and pieces left over in bags. But orange (e.g. dried apricots or papaya), green (pistachio or pumpkin seeds), and red (cranberries or cherries) should show through.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together with a wooden spoon and transfer to a greased, rectangular baking tin. Transfer to oven and bake on middle shelf for 25 – 30 minutes. Leave to cool completely in the tin. Measure and cut up into bars with a sharp knife or wheel cutter. Store in an airtight tin. Yum!
Perfect timing, I am working through using up my various store cupboard ingredients so I can do a refresh. I have a tray of these flapjacks in the oven right now!
Good news Patricia. It is such a flexible recipe and always a hit with visitors. Great for making with children too. Best regards
Brendan
Thankyou Brendan! x
They were delicious on your baking course & I can’t wait to make them!!
Thank you for the recipe!
Clare from Seasoned Cookery School !
x
These tasted amazing but didn’t bind sadly – so I’m enjoying beautifully zesty granola instead! What do you think I might have done wrong?
Thank you for the recipe, Brendan, why do you not have a book out?!
Hi Alice. Sorry to hear about the disappointing result re the granola fruit bars. The important thing is to melt the butter and then pour it into the rolled oats, and work it with your hands thoroughly until it comes together. Then press it into the baking tin. the baking process will then complete the process of binding it together. And when it is cold, it should then slice into bars. Maybe it was the incorporation of the butter perhaps? but the recipe does work, so don’t give up on it.
Best regards
Brendan