Video:5 Tasty Flapjack Variations

Transcript:5 Tasty Flapjack Variations

Hi I am Elaine Lemm for About.com British Food and today I’m going to show some alternatives for a traditional British flapjack. You can find the traditional British flapjack recipe on the British food site, but essentially it is a mixture of golden syrup, melted butter and porridge oats.

There are many alternatives to traditional British flapjack and that is limited only by your imagination. By adding different ingredients you can create different tastes, flavors and textures very quickly and very easily.

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

One favorite is to add in chocolate chips. Children love this, just by adding a couple of tablespoons of chocolate into your basic mixture, the chocolate melts in with the butter and the sugar. Is it any wonder children really love it.

Fruit and Nut Flapjacks

Another great alternative and to create a really lovely tropical flavor to a flapjack is to add in 2oz / 55g of desiccated coconut. Simply add it in at this stage, stir it in and proceed with the recipe. Very simple.

Another one, a real favorite of mine, is to add in chopped nuts. Now the advantage of this is not only does it change the flavor of the flapjack it adds a real good bite and crunch to it, but it is especially good for adding extra energy. So put it in a lunchbox, it’s super to take to the gym or anytime you exercise and when you need that extra burst of energy. You choose the nuts, just put your favorites in.

Flapjack Sugar Alternatives

For any of you who maybe just a little bit conscious about the amount of sugar in golden syrup, you can very quickly change that by adding in honey instead of golden syrup. This is going to change the taste slightly but it is also very delicious and of course a lot healthier too.

One of my favorites and the one that I’m going to make today is by using a mixture of soft dried fruit, particularly dried apricots, which I’m going to add to the mixture. And to add in lovely flavor and lots of color as well, dried cranberries. Stir them into the mixture, just as you would when making traditional flapjack. The flavor of this is lovely but also the softness of this fruit just gives it a really chewy texture.

Mix Flapjack Ingredients and Bake

I’ve got a cake tin here which has been greased and lined with a little bit of baking parchment on the bottom, and into there I’m going to put the mixture. What a lovely color it is. With the back of the spoon press it down into the tin to even out the mixture.

This now goes into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius / 350F for about 20 minutes or until it is golden brown.

So here’s our lovely fruit flapjack. It had about 25 minutes in the oven. I left it to cool in the tin then cut it into slices and as you can see it is thick, dense and moist and absolutely delicious.