calling lovely foodie MNers: can you please fix my flapjacks!

[whatinthewhatnow]

Hello, I love flapjacks but I just cannot make them! They are always waaaaay too crumbly so just ends up like loose granola rather than flapjacks. I have tried pressing the mix really hard into the tin but it makes no difference. I really resent buying them from the supermarket as we make all our own biscuits/cakes otherwise. Anyone got the secret?

The answer is a lot of butter. I use an old Waitrose recipe and have had tons of positive comments about it.
250g butter
7 tbsps golden syrup
75g soft brown sugar
250g porridge oats
100g plain flour
Raisins and dried apricots, chopped
melt butter, syrup and sugar together on low heat then sir in all the other Ingredients.
bake at 170 for around 30 minutes but maybe a bit less.
Makes a lovely flapjack but not a terribly healthy one!

ooh, i've never used flour before! thx, will try.

soup dragon's recipe
you need condensed milk

here:

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 tinker with the sugar if you find them too sweet.

What Charlotte said. Half a tin of condensed milk, no need for extra sugar then. Clever old SoupDragon, best flapjacks ever

great, thanks!

I don't put any of the extra sugar in any more BTW.

what, none at all? just cmilk and syrup for sweetness?

That's right.

I did a lot of research for this recipe and the amount I originally wrote is way WAY less than the internet recipe originally called for. I now leave it out entirely as they were still tooth-strippingly sweet.

I've also used honey instead of syrup when I'd run out of syrup.

Do what Soupy says. That woman knows her flapjacks.

Im just making these now! Can I use your recipe on my blog?

LOL. Of course you can. I only stole it from somewhere on the Internet and tweaked it a little :)

Those flapjacks

Thanks! Mine are out of the oven cooling, and look/smell amazing! Can I wait until after dinner to try some ...?

What did you not eat spoonfuls of it before you cooked it?

That's why the recipe only uses half a tin of condensed milk... So you can eat one batch of mixture raw and then make another to cook without anyone being any the wiser.

Oooh... I've just remembered... 2 tablespoons of syrup is about 75g. It's easier to weigh it.

I make mine with 5 oz oats, 4 oz butter and 4 oz soft brown sugar (usually in large multiples of those figures.)

I discovered last week they are much better with salted butter rather than unsalted.