flapjack failure- where did it all go wrong

[pussycatmomma]

Hi, title says it all really. I've just used a nigella recipe for flapjacks using oats, butter, sugar, golden syrup. Did exactly what it said, cooked for right amount of time, and all ive got is a tray of oats mixed with melted butter, sugar and golden syrup not flapjacks at all. Waited the due 10 mins to cut them and they are not hard and set at all, as i remember flapjacks to be. Come on ladies what have i done wrong? just checked mn for any other recipes and they are all the same, with same method etc. I need answers as im cooking for the church cake sale! So far made lemon drizzle muffins, chocolate muffins and now on pretty cupcakes - all exemplary work if i may say so! Advice for the pesky flapjacks please xxxx knew i should have stuck to what i know best!

You need SoupDrgaon's recipe with condensed milk. I made flpajacks craply for years. SoupDragon's is THE only way.

Too much golden syrup maybe? Oven not hot enough, not baked for long enough?

sure your oven is ok? even i can make flapjacks and i am totally totally rubbish at all cooking. very weird!

i can't make flapjacks fabulous baker boys mine are always burnt. and i love baking - just stir it into icecream. yum.

so its not just me then? when i was putting it in the tin, i was thinking, how is it going to cook with just butter holding it all together? i was aiming for those little flapjack mini bites you can buy in the supermarket which are fudgy and cakey at the same time. Ive just put the tray back in the oven to see if they needed more cooking......

these sound yummy!!

I have had exactly the same problem with Nigella's recipe - I kept the flapjack "crumble" in a tin and stirred it into natural yoghurt - v nice but not what i was after! Will look up soupdragon's recipe...

sounds like she had a misprint in her recipe and needed to double up the oats. you do have to wait for flap jacks to go cold before you try and get them out the tin though i think.

ooohh flapjack flap

I think you have forgotten flour!!

sure the oven must be fine piratecat as all other baking is turning out fine. I wondered if there was a secret to letting it go cold, does it go hard when cool i wonder? its had 5-10 mins more in oven and is risking going too brown on top. Took it out and will give it a while to cool before i offer my verdict!

taffetacat i will try and find soupdragons recipe now, thanks xx

thats what i thought when i was making it - whats gonna hold it all together? didnt know whether the oats would do something magical when cooking [embarrassed]!

Nigella's recipe doesn't work

I use a Jamie Oliver recipe which is very good. I add coconut and dried cranberries

Here's SoupDragon's:

( I use slightly less condensed milk and no sugar )

250g porridge oats (the cheap type, not large ones),
150g Butter,
2 generous table spoons Golden Syrup
half a tin condensed milk,
100g demerera sugar
baking tin, no bigger than about 18cm x 28cm

Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees c

1. Line the baking tin with baking parchment.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the sugar and syrup. Keep gently heating and stirring until all is melted and mixed. If it starts to boil take it off the heat!
3. Add the condensed milk and mix. Bring to the boil for about a minute.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 cooking.

You can substitute honey for the syrup and change the amount of sugar - I use less as they can turn out very sweet. I've also substituted some of the oats for assorted seeds and they're fab covered with a layer of chocolate.

Pussycatmomma,

I use this recipe.

www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/flapjacks.htm

I normally double the amounts, and replace 50 grammes of oats with crushed hazelnuts. They take about five minutes to make, and approximately 15 minutes in the oven at 160 degrees.

Without looking at your recipe I can't fathom quite what went wrong with yours, but I also wonder if your oven is doing its job - yours sound as if they were undercooked.

Soupdragon's recipe is the one you need. The condensed milk makes all the difference. Also when you're melting the sugar do it really slowly so it properly melts with the butter before mixing with the oats. It takes longer but it's worth it.

I've given up on flapjacks as they seem to always turn out like extra sweet granola. I imagine that the condensed milk make them quite fudgy, which would be good.

the Nigella recipe doesn't work. Fact. there's something about it o. her website.

I think this recipe was originally based on a delia recipe but its gooooood

110g/4oz brown sugar
175g/6oz butter
1dsp of treacle or black treacle
175g/6oz porridge oats

you can also add zest of about 1/2 lemon and juice of half a lemon or almond essence - whatever takes your facy - personally i add 25g more oats with the lemon juice.

After the melty bit put in oven for about 2 mins at 180 until it is all bubbly and lovely - cut when warm and eat when cold - with this recipe it makes about 16 flapjacks and they are about 16g of carb each (carb counting for diabetic dd not just a carb counting madwoman)

Another good tip is making them individually in fairy cake pan and then they are even nicer and crispier

I don't tend to measure and i ALWAYS put more syrup or treacle in than the recipe says then everything sticks together, it has to cool in the tin for 10 mins then cut it and put on cooling rack.

I see someone has already posted my heavily researched recipe

I also make them with none of the extra sugar now - it really is unnecessary IMO.

I'm certain there is a misprint with the Nigella ones - they always seem to crop up in a failure thread.

these are plain but work every time They are standard flap jacks and work in the correct size tin - the first time I made them I put in an extra 1oz of oats - but they were fine

They were the first I made and worked beautifully - then I ventured over to Soup dragon's flap jacks and they are more exciting and softer and chewy.

My other trick is I have wet and dry scales - I put the saucepan on the scales and weigh the golden syrup first, no messing with spoons in hot water or oil

Are you using the flapjack recipe in "Domestic Goddess". In the 2000 editino (and I think earlier editions too), the golden syrup is given as 50g, but it should be 150g. There used to be a list of errata on Nigella's website, but I can't find it now.

However, I can't get it to work nicely even with the right quantity of golden syrup, so I use this recipe, which was posted on Nigella's website but by a random member of the public! The condensed milk recipe in this thread sound very yummy too though!

Here are some of the other errata in the same Nigella book.

Soupdragon - do you mean you cut out all the demerara sugar completely?