Recipe: Flapjacks

Flapjack Recipe (Both Chewy & Cruncy Versions)
Description
A simple to make oaty cake that is sweet, moist & chewy (or carmel flavoured, hard & crunchy).

Summary
Mix oats with melted margarine, golden syrup & sugar.
Bake.
Takes approximately: 5 min work, 25 min cooking, 60 min total.

Ingredients
Porridge (chopped rolled) oats 125 g
Rolled oats 125 g
Margarine 150 g
Golden syrup 75 g
Sugar 75 g

Equipment
Oven. Hob & saucepan (or microwave oven with microwaveable bowl). Knife, chopstick, wooden spoon or similar (to mix ingredients with). Pallet knife (to press into cake tin with). Scales & spoons (or just estimate). Square shallow baking tin about 20 cm sided. Greaseproof paper.

Detailed Instructions for Chewy Flapjack
Put margarine, golden syrup in saucepan (or microwaveable bowl if using a microwave oven) and heat until it is all liquid.

Meanwhile line the baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Mix all the oats into the liquid.

Put the mixture into the baking tin & press flat.
Bake at 175 deg C (Gas Mark 4) for 25 to 30 minutes. Warning: the timing is tollerant but accuracy in temperature is critical.

Slice into 8 fingers (by cutting into half along the perpendicular bisector of two sides and into quarters perpendicular to the first cut) before it sets but leave in place in tin.
Leave to cool and set.

Crunchy Flapjack
The recipe is identical to chewy version but cook at 15 deg (one Gas Mark) hotter.

Fruit Flapjack
The recipe is identical to above but mix in some raisins and/or sultanas before baking (obviously).

Notes
The chewy and brittle versions can be make simultaneously from the same mix by baking them on different shelves in the same oven providied the oven does not have forced temeperature equalisation (e.g. a fan oven) by utlising the temperature diffences between shelves. In my gas oven, I can bake chewy flapjack on the middle shelve whilst baking brittle flapjack on the top shelf.

The rolled oats are not vital. Flapjack can be made from pure porridge oats but the texture is less interesting. however, pure rolled oats does not work well because the resulting cake is very fragile.

I have not callibrated my oven (I just relied on its thermostat) so please check your oven produces flapjack the way you like it and adjust the temperature accordingly before producing a big batch. My oven, being a gas one, reaches its final temperature quickly; if your is an electric one without a fan assist it will take far longer to warm up and save time & electricity by cooking as it warms up then the nominal settings may be very different.