I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I started The Picnic Blanket Book and told you all the secrets of my special-recipe rocky road. So here’s the April installment, my other favourite bake, if bake is the word. This is a food that travels well (I took a bag of it on the Laugavegur trail), works really well as a hiking snack and is a great addition to any picnic. This is my flapjack recipe. It’s not a secret special recipe like the rocky road but it works nicely. Add dried fruit if you want to, along with the oats.
Ingredients:
- 125g unsalted butter. Don’t go using low-fat spread or anything like that. Real butter is what you want here.
- 100g brown sugar. I prefer soft light brown but dark brown works too
- 4 tablespoons golden syrup. They’ve recently invented squeezy golden syrup which is much easier than the messy tins.
- 250g oats
First of all, preheat your oven. I set it to 180°C but I think maybe set it bit lower.
Weigh out your butter, sugar and syrup and put them in a saucepan. Cut the butter into small pieces, otherwise when you melt it, the outside might burn while the inside is still solid. Small pieces melt better.
Melt the whole lot over a low heat – it takes a very low heat to melt butter and dissolve sugar.
When you’ve turned the whole thing into a deep shiny orange-brown syrup, tip in the oats and stir them until every single oat is coated.
Tip the sticky oaty mixture into a tin. The recipe always says a square tin but I only possess round ones (rusty, filthy things; if yours are in a decent state you don’t need to line them with foil) and pat it down until it’s smooth.
Now it goes into the preheated oven for around half an hour, or until it’s golden.
When it’s cooked, the sugar and syrup will be bubbling away for at least five minutes. Don’t touch it, it’s the third hottest thing in the entire solar system at this point (after the sun and a McDonalds apple pie). Leave it in the tin until it’s completely cooled. Removing it before then will cause it to crumble into pieces. I’ve been on the stupid end of this many, many times.
When it’s cooled, you can remove it from the tin and cut it into pieces.
Ok, this looks more like rice krispie cake. It’s a tiny bit overcooked on top and a bit undercooked and a tiny bit dry in the middle, so when I said to cook it at 180°, maybe go a bit lower for a bit longer to cook it through a bit more consistently. And keep an eye on it. I’m finding this particular batch really well-cooked around the circumference but then I like my flapjack soft.
And that’s my flapjack recipe!