Raisin and Nut Oat Squares (Flapjacks!)

Ok, I admit it. Raisin and Nut Oat Squares is just a posh name for flapjacks. But now that I can vent all my pent up blogging frustrations in this new blog, I think I have a right to pretend being arty and construe complicated names for simple recipes.

I have now made these flapjacks countless times and they do not fail to impress. I got the recipe from my husband’s mother, who is an amazing cook. She knows recipes by heart. She does all the ‘looking up’ inside her head. Mr. Bob Google does not feature in her life as much as he interferes with mine.

Here is the recipe for 16 good sized Raising and Nut Oat Squares, err, Flapjacks –

Ingredients

  • 100gms unsalted butter (or salted, if you prefer)
  • 75gms light brown sugar (I have had good results with caster sugar too)
  • 60ml Golden Syrup (do not substitute with anything)
  • 250gms rolled oats (see my thrilling paragraph about oats below)
  • 50gms Raisins (or sultanas, cranberries, any other berry)
  • 25gms Nuts (Flaked almonds, mixed chopped nuts, chopped walnuts, anything you fancy!)

Completely optional

  • 1/2tsp good quality vanilla extract
  • 1/2tsp cinnamon (particularly good if you want your house to smell of goodness)
  • 1/2 a fresh chopped apple

A word about oats: Before I dive into the method, let us quickly talk about oats. I prefer a crumbly texture when it comes to flapjacks. Err, squares. But I know that some people prefer a stickier, denser texture. This is where I leave things to your experimentation. Keeping to 250gms of oats, I have had different results with Whole Rolled Oats, regular Porridge Oats, Steel Cut Oats and a combination in any proportion of all/some of these. I would refrain from using Instant Oats, if I were you. Everything else will more or less work with slightly different results.

Method

Preheat oven to 180C or fan equivalent. Check your oven’s instructions, each one varies.

Melt Golden Syrup, sugar and butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Do not leave on heat for too long, or it will burn. Mix in the oats. Find your longest wooden spoon and mix well until all the oats are coated with the wonderous buttery mixture. Remove from heat. Add nuts and raisins. Mix. Add vanilla and cinnamon, if using. Mix again. Go on and be tempted to add half a fresh chopped apple. I dare you. Eat the rest of the apple.

Line a 9 inch square baking tin with parchment paper. Grease the top of the paper with some butter, just to be sure that we do not end up with a sticky stuck mess. I do not want you standing in your kitchen cursing me. Spoon in the mixture and press down. The best way to press down is using a greased potato masher. I am nothing if not a purveyor of kitchen tricks.

Bake at 180C for 25mins. Make a cup of tea. Wait. Leave the flapjacks, err, squares, to cool in the tin for another 10mins. Take them out, cut them in squares. Make another cup of tea. Enjoy!

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You can see that I added some chopped apple to my flapjacks, I accepted my own dare.

Given I am fairly new to blogging, I did my best to cut these into the perfect little squres. What’s a recipe on the internet without a good picture, eh?

And this is what kept me more amused the evening I baked the flapjacks, err, squares. I pretended to be a super organised woman. The kind who bakes on a regular basis and then packs flapjacks, individually, in parchment paper before tying a perfect knot with a piece of string. I can assure you that this was done for the picture below.

I do not do this. I am a firm believer in cling film and aluminium foil.

That said, it was fun to take these neatly packed flapjacks to work the next day!