Flapjack - i can't make it, please help!!

[frazzledbutcalm]

Im a reasonable cook, sweet and savoury, but i can't make flapjack! It either ends up too gooey, too cakey, or, like tonight, sticks to the tin and can't be budged! I'm going to have to throw my tin away as i can't remove the flapjack!!

I have a reusable liner - nothing sticks.

I've tried greaseproof paper, but flapjack just stuck to that in places! I can't seem to make it right, never mind tin and paper etc!

how about trying a new recipe? here's my mum's ancestral one:
150g butter
75g sugar
3tbsp golden syrup
300g porridge oats
Melt fat, sugar & syrup, stir in oats.
Greased 7x7" tin, 20min gas 4

i had three attempts at them the other night. i ended up binning each one.

Here's my mum's original recipe.
1/2 cup demerara sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
5 oz butter (that's 150 grammes)
3 cups oats

11.5 inch by 7.5 inch tin, greased (use a butter paper)
25 minutes at Mark 5
Cut up while still warm.

If you use a bigger tin, you spread the flapjack thinner, so it is all crisp and yummy instead of being all thick and wodgy.

i used delia's recipe. they was all hard as iron. and i only cooked them for 15 minutes.

You're with me then southeastastra? dh used delia's recipe a few years ago and it worked great. I've never tried delias but i have tried 2 other recipes, each without success! Mrs Badger, Bluestocking, thanks for recipes (think they're both very similar to ones i've used), will try them both tomorrow and let you know how i get on
I make great cakes, banoffee pie, fruit pies, healthy muffins for packed lunch, loads of things, BUT NOT FLAPJACK!!!

did you ever get it out the tin?

the worst thing was, my ds(14) took the recipe to school to make and it was so good all the children ate it and there was only a little left.

i make it, you could use it to build a house with it was so hard.

I use this one:

flapjacks

Has just gone down a treat at ds1's new kindergarten.

(You will probably need to bake it for a bit longer than the recommended 15 mins)

These are to die for. It's the condensed milk that makes them gooey and divine.

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 you can also reduce the amount of sugar - I use less as they can turn out very sweet.

i use this everytime and it works out perfect yum yum!!

I use this recipe which works out very nicely, i don't really like the gooey kind of flapjack.. ive not made it for ages but as the cookie jar is full of oaties that i made yesterday it will have to wait till next week.

frazzled, same here, my dh won't even let me try and cook flapjack anymore

I've posted this one before because it's so fabulous. I've never, ever known it to fail. It looks a bit unconventional, but is unbelievably delicious!

Jo Johnson?s oatcake (less gungy but more reliable)

8 oz margarine
4 oz plain flour
2 oz syrup
8 oz oats
1tbl spoon water
8 oz sugar
2 x Pinch bicarb
pinch salt

Dried fruit, choc chips, nuts, seeds etc.

Melt margarine/syrup/water and bicarb.
Mix in flour, oats, sugar and salt.
Stir in any dried fruit, nuts etc.
Grease a baking tin approx 10x8"
Cook at 150? for 35 mins (lower the temperature and shorten the cooking time if you have a fan oven
Cool in tin a bit, then score, and then remove before completely cold

It is gorgeous.

Also, get hold of one of those rubber tins - nothing sticks to those.

I'm rubbish at making flapjacks too (and biscuits and muffins!)

I tried Soupdragon's recipe some time ago and it was a total disaster

Pleeeeeeease try mine. I promise it will work, and anyone who eats them in your house will want the recipe. You will become the flapjack goddess of your community

Thanks for even more recipes everyone. I'll try all of them over time. littlefish - i can bet i will be your first failure!
South - i never got it out of the tin. I was gonna put it in bin but dh rescued it and managed to chip flapjack out of tin bit by bit! It was really bad

oh dear. i'll try some of these too

how did u all get on??

how am I supposed to keep to my NY resolution of trying to eat healthily if you lot keep putting yummy recipes up?

Soupdragon, we made your flapjacks after lunch (twas the mention of condensed milk that won me over).

Dear Lord they are the sexiest flapjacks ever! I am on a diet but very menstrual so have indulged.

Thankyou! YOu've made a rainy "indoor" day bearable for me and my boys

Littlefish, yours are for next week, I just had very little sugar and a tin of condensed milk in the cupboard!

Gawd, I must do some more running to make up for these flapjacks!

Mefinks the trick is - regardless of spread thickness/recipe/etc - you need to time it just right so it is only just cooked when you remove from oven. Barely golden imo and then you let it cook in the tin s it cools and sets.

I too use a reusable silicone liner thingy from lakeland. My recipe is Amy wilcox's Aga cookbook one.