to want to make my DCs flapjacks, but don't want to rot their precious teeth.....

[adogcalledbetty]

....with all that sugar and syrup. Anyone got a delicious recipe that's not too heavy on the sugary stuff? I've tried a few 'healthy' recipes but they're so heavy on the oats that my DCs won't eat them.

Am IBU to want delicious goodness without the enormous sugar hit? My DCs do a lot of sporty stuff and flapjacks would be ideal for them to take with them, but I don't want to just spend hours of my precious time just to give them tooth rotting rubbish.

[sigh]

250g porridge oats (the cheap type, not large ones),
150g Butter,
2 generous tablespoons (75g) Golden Syrup
half a tin condensed milk

baking tin, no bigger than about 18cm x 28cm

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees c
2. Line the baking tin with baking parchment.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the syrup. Keep gently heating and stirring until all is melted and mixed.
4. Add the condensed milk and mix. Bring to the boil for about a minute. If I'm honest, I just bung the milk in at step 3.
5. Remove from the heat and gradually add the oats, folding them in. All the oats should be coated, and the mixture quite dense, but still sticky. Don't add so many oats that the mixture becomes dry.
6. Pour the mixture into the tins and spread about so that it lines the tin to a depth of 2-3cm. Don't squash the mixture in, just spread it evenly.
7. Bake in the oven for about 15mins. You should take them out when they just start to go brown round the edges, don't leave longer than this. If they're still squidgy in the middle that's fine, they set on cooling.

Give them oatcakes. Flapjack with out the sugar.

Just brush their teeth?

Cheesejacks - with cheese and an egg.

soupdragon's recipe is THE BEST. I have tried lots of recipes and hers is the only one that doesn't end up all crumbly and still tastes really oaty and not too sweet. Thanks soupdragon! (Saw it on a previous thread ages ago)

Soup that recipe looks delish. I may have to make it this afternoon

My recipe:
Melt some butter (about a third of a block) with some syrup (about two table spoons). If you don't have syrup use anything else sticky like honey, sugar or even marmalade, or any mixture of the above.

Stir in Some oats (maybe 5 handfuls?) and any bits of dried fruit, seeds, nuts, chocolate etc that you fancy. Keep adding until it starts to look slightly too dry (I always get nervous a this stage)

Press down into some kind of tin

Cook at about 170 for about 20 minutes, until it is a bit brown

Let cool for about an hour - it will solidify a bit

Slice up, and leave any that you don't eat immediately o harden more overnight.

Soupdragon thank you for that recipe. Ds1 has asked me to make some flapjacks (I have made honey ones before) so I will be using your recipe this time!

"my" recipe used to have extra sugar in it which I cut down considerably from the original and now leave out altogether. They are no longer so sweet you can feel them stripping the enamel off your teeth :)

I sometimes stir in about 100g plain chocolate before adding the oats.

apricots and raisins will rot your teeth too. They just how lower GI.

I thought the problem with eating lots of sugar was that it rotted your teeth from the insides once it was in the bloodstream? So not something you could just brush away after a bit of flapjack. Could just have made that up in my tiny head though

Sugar doesn't rot your teeth at all.

The bacteria that live on your teeth feed on the sugar and the acids they release dissolve your teeth.

Nothing a good post-munch brush won't solve

"I thought the problem with eating lots of sugar was that it rotted your teeth from the insides once it was in the bloodstream? So not something you could just brush away after a bit of flapjack. Could just have made that up in my tiny head though"

Definitely made up in your head!

And what CackleMeIAmYours said.

soupdragons recipe is the best, even better then my mums, you need to make 2 batches not to waste the condensed milk. One to eat raw while the other batch bakes!

I don't believe that sugar rots your teeth. Most americans have lovely teeth, there is sugar in everything there, I mean everything there bread is like cake ffs and look how lovely there teeth are.

Not one of my 3 (9,9 and 8) have a single filling and they have flap jack,Friday sweets etc.

They brush their teeth well and just drink water between meals.

Neither of mine have any fillings either. They eat cakes, biscuits drink orange juice have the odd lollipop or mixup and drink squash. I'm sure bad teeth is a result of genetics and not cleaning them properly.

Its not just the amount of sugar (including fruit) you eat but how often, so if your teeth are constantly under attack by acid from sugary snacks inbetween meals they are likely to be more damaged than just having sugar at mealtimes.

The more proceed the food the more damaging, as it is already broken up into component particles, which in whole fruit would only be broken up in your stomach.

Also you shouldn't brush your teeth straight after sugar as the brushing will actually damage your teeth more, think you are supposed to wait atleast 15 mins.

Somebody put a recipe on here a while ago for flapjacks with bananas and a v small amount of sugar. Personally I like sugar but there you go :)

Soupdragon, I need to make 27 bite size flapjacks, would your recipe make that many?

Oh dear, thanks for correcting me. What you said sounds much more familiar! I'm going to blame baby-brain and get the hell out of here

A bit of flapjack isn't going to be disasterous for their teeth!

The real problem is slow snacking on sugary stuff. So if you eat a flapjack afterwards your saliva is acidic from the sugar for a while (20 mins of so) and then neutralises. This is better for your teeth than e.g. slowly eating a packet of rolos over a couple of hours of having sugary drinks regularly (so you would get lots of these 20 min acidic periods rather than one).

Make them with agave syrup. You can get it from the health food or free from sections of any supermarket, or health food shops. It's really sweet and lower GI and much better for you than sugar or regular syrup. I make flapjacks that everyone goes crazy for with just oats, butter (or soya spread for some friends) and agave syrup. I can't give you quantities though, because I am of the "bung it in until it seems right" school of cooking

Ha!

You're joking. Right?

A bit of fluffing flapjack won't harm their precious teeth.

I've just had some myself. Wonderful stuff.