Best not to kid yourself about the fact that this ain’t no diet food. Flapjacks are no more than oats suspended in butter toffee. Last time I looked, that combination wasn’t high on the list of recommended health foods. But they are incredibly good.
These enormous ones are perfect for sharing and will fuel a great deal of rainy festival-traipsing. Reasons enough to make them — without the pseudo cereal bar label, I hope. Do replace some of the oats with seeds, nuts or dried fruit if you would like to add more interest to this delightfully plain version.
Makes 12 ridiculously large flapjacks or 16 slightly more reasonable ones; Prep 10 minutes; Cook time 1 hour 10 minutes
650g butter
350g brown sugar
360g golden syrup
400g jumbo rolled oats
300g porridge oats (I use half spelt)
pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 150°C/fan 130°C/300°F/gas mark 2. Use a convection rather than a fan oven, if possible.
In your largest pan, melt the butter, sugar and syrup together over a low heat, stirring until no grains of sugar remain. Keep cooking and stirring until the toffee is bubbling and smooth. Add the oats and continue to stir over the heat for five minutes. You want them to soften in the toffee. Mix in the salt and turn off the heat.
Press firmly into a 30x20cm tin, lined with non-stick baking parchment that goes up the sides as well as covering the bottom. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until deeply golden at the edges but still a tiny bit wobbly in the centre.
Dip a wooden spoon in cold water (to stop it sticking) and use the back to press the flapjack down again firmly. Set aside to cool in the tin; it’s very important that you don’t disturb, score or cut the flapjacks now or they won’t hold together. Leave them to get completely cool. That means overnight for best results, or a minimum of four hours if you’re really in a pickle.
Tip the whole flapjack out onto a board, remove the paper and cut into as many pieces as you wish. They’ll last for up to a week in an airtight tin in a cool place.
Recipe from Friends at My Table by Alice Hart (Quadrille, £19.99)
