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!

Yes. I gradually cut it down and then decided to leave it out altogther as they were too sweet.

IIRC, the 2 tablespoons of syrup are about 75g. It is indeed easier to weigh than faff about with sticky spoons.

Yum, just made a double batch, with coconut and sultanas in ( and no sugar as SoupDragon says ). Divine.

I have always made great flapjack and then a few weeks ago I made dragon's one with the c milk and they didn't hold together at all.

I was rather upset. I had (child) visitors and everything.

I use this one, it was my grandmother's and has never failed me...

4oz light br. soft sugar
6oz butter
1Tbls Golden Syrup
6oz Oats

Preheat oven to 150c and lightly grease 7-8" tin and line if you want.

Put the sugar, butter and golden syrup together in a medium saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and stir in oats.

Press the mixture over the base of the prepared tin, and bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before cutting into squares or bars. Leave until cold then remove from the tin.

I mix and match other ingredients when I can be bothered sometimes: raisins, raisins and cinnamon, dried cranberries etc etc.

I have been using this mumsnet recipe which works beautifully.

I think pressing the mixture down is key, actually - used to work in a cafe which was famous for them and that's what they did, with a spoon first and then a spatula dipped in cold water.

I don't really measure mine at all, and find them an incredibly forgiving thing to make - you can do all sorts of peculiar interesting additions and subtractions once you've got the basic system going.

What I do is:

melt together a whole pack of butter with a generous guesstimated amount of brown sugar/golden sugar/golden syrup (depending on what you feel like and what else you are putting in.

once it's all bubbling up and blended, remove the pan from the heat and stir in enough large porridge oats to absorb all the obvious liquid. Once that's done, mix in an equivalent quantity of ordinary sized porrige oats - it'll be hard work, and the mixture very stiff, but it'll get there eventually. Add them bit by bit if you really don't have faith!

then put in whatever additions you like - raisins, sultanas, nuts, seeds, apricots, coconut...

then pour into a 9 by 12 pan (perfect size for one pack of butter's-worth of mixture) and squash down as hard as you can; bake in a medium hot oven till golden brown. When you take the pan out, cut into squares but don't try and take them out - wait until cool. The first one you take out will probably still collapse, but the rest (I hope) will be perfect.

Ooh, and lemon. Lemon juice (& zest) is an excellent thing to add.

OhBuggerand Arse Love your NN and love your cooking style. Sounds just like mine!!! Dollop here , sprinkle there.....

The kind of oats you use can really make a difference, use the rolled oats which are then partially crushed to make them quicker cooking, not the prettier whole rolled oats. Learned my lesson when my failsafe recipe went all wrong last time!

Also agree about the pressing down, really smush em together.

I just googled 'flapjacks always go wrong' and found this thread, lol. So glad I'm not the only useless flapjack maker. And I consider myself a pretty good cook and baker normally but for some reason my flapjacks always fail miserably.

I have noted down Soup Dragon's recipe though so will get back into the kitchen post-haste!

Janine x

I've had many disasters with flapjacks - and the Nigella recipe never worked for me.
The Delia recipe in her Book of Cakes has a misprint in it if you're using metric (which I do) and for ages I kept messing that one up as well, but I have asked advice from two people - a friend who bakes, and my brother who is superb at cakes.
My friend suggested lowering the oven temperature on the Delia recipe and putting them in for less time.
But my brother's trick worked - get the right sized tin. I hadn't paid much attention to that, but now I get it right every time but I have to do 1 1/2 times the Delia recipe.

Am keen to try Soupdragon's recipe though!

Anyhow, I am trying to Improve Myself, and my current problem is getting over my banana bread disability .

Should mention - I asked my Mum who said 'oh, flapjacks are supposed to be quite hard, you can't eat them without dunking them in your tea'.

Yep, I reckon it's the oats too. I had numerous flapjack disasters before I realised that:

nice, boxed, posh rolled oats = sloppy oversweet porridge

cheapo bag of grittylooking oats = flapjacks

Can also recommend the no added sugar banana & date flapjacks in the MN recipe section. DH is a bit at them but the kids love them and so they are a good substitute if looking for day-to-day "healthy(ish) snack".

Ah that's where I go right - I always use Tesco value oats! By the time you have added all that sugar, butter and fruit no-one knows!

Have nothing to add on the flapjack front (being a specialist at creating oaty, crumbly burnt mixture-will be saving this thread) but have been haunted by your mention of lemon drizzle muffins OP. I have a fab big cake recipe for lemon drizzle but it's a bit much for everyday - would you share?!

I had a go at Soupdragon's recipe and it was fantastic - yummy!
I have half a tin of condensed milk left so I may have to trial the no demerara version too
I did have to cook it for a bit longer than the recipe said although I suspect I chickened out on the boiling of the caramel mix too early and that may have been the problem.
I also cut quite large pieces, not realising how rich it would be. so I would cut nearer bite sized pieces in future.

I am good at baking and flapjacks are beyond me. I am going to give the Soupdragon versioon a go!

Well, I can report that I made SoupDragon's version yesterday (with no demerera) - cooked it for quite a bit longer than 15 mins and it still was quite soft (although set) - although I think my oven is generally cooler than the temp dial says. Took them into work as my contribution to the Unit's "cakes for the two pregnant people leaving" tea party (one of the pregnant women being me!) and I am pleased to report that there weren't any left, despite there being a big spread of other cakes to choose from!

I added some sultanas, which was tasty.

Thank you SoupDragon!

I've done soupdragon's and they were really nice. The second time though I did leave them in a bit too long and they were more crumbly.

Did you push them down a bit, not totally squash them, but you can't just tip the mixture in and then put in the oven. Do need to push down a little bit.

I kind of spread the mixture about with a fork, i don't push it down particularly.

I am LOLing at the thought of it being my recipe. I googled "flapjacks condensed milk recipe" once as part of a MN thread, found the original and then just tweaked it as they were unbearably sweet. I guess it's a MN recipe as it was the result of a thread :)

The boiling of the condensed milk part isn't essential - IIRC the original told you not to so it shouldn't affect the texture if you don't. I like the caramel flavour it gives though.

I was utterly sh*te at cookery at school.

Well SoupDragon it is on my blog now as your recipe - maybe start of a new career for you??

Just go with it SoupDragon.

I think I once saw someone suggest that the Lemon Drizzle recipe wasn't 100% conceived by Marslady. However I think they were promptly rounded up and shot ignored.

Oooh! Lemon drizzle cake! Where is this recipe you speak of?

It's herecarrots. I haven't tried it myself but is is something of a Mumsnet Institution

Thank you Wincy