Flapjack Bars with Yoghurt Topping (Wheat- and Egg Free)

There are very few things in the world of bakery that scream "I am an Englishman!" as much as an oaty flapjack. As far back as the 16th century, the word flapjack has been used in the English language to refer to a variety of different baked things: pancakes, tarts, biscuits, and more. Nowadays, though, it conjures up an image of a buttery, golden syrupy, oaty traybake.

Here in Ireland, flapjacks can be bought individually as breakfast bars, and often they have a yoghurty topping. I have travailed for many days to bring to you the perfect recipe for a yoghurty topping.

Only after I failed in the attempt of developing the recipe. Four. Times. I eventually got it, though. The flapjack was harder than the icing, it has to be said.

The yoghurty topping requires a little experience of sugar boiling, but it's nothing too complex. If sugar boiling is a no-go for you, you can use any other icing you want, or leave it out altogether.

If you have a flapjack recipe you prefer, feel free to use it! I used this flapjack recipe more as a vehicle and an excuse to demonstrate the yoghurty topping, if I'm going to be completely honest.

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DIFFICULTY

Requires experience with sugar boiling stages

TIME

Over 6 hours

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

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INGREDIMENTS

Makes one 8 inch (20 centimetre) tray of flapjacks

For the flapjacks

12 ounces (340 grammes) porridge oats

6 ounces (170 grammes) butter, salted or unsalted

4½ ounces (130 grammes) soft brown sugar

1½ ounces (40 grammes) golden syrup

1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) water

Cinnamon, to taste

Vanilla essence, to taste

For the icing,

8 ounces (225 grammes) caster sugar
4 ounces (115 grammes) Greek yoghurt
4 ounces (115 grammes) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

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FREE FROM

Eggs, nuts, wheat

CONTAINS

Oats, dairy, refined sugar

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METHOD

First, make the flapjacks.

• Line an 8 inch (20 centimetre) square tin with non-stick baking paper. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2).
• Take a quarter of the oats and grind to a flour in a blender or food processor. If you don't have heavy machinery, you can replace a quarter of the flour with instant oat cereal, like Ready Brek.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, syrup, and water together and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and add in the porridge oats and the ground oats. Add in the cinnamon and vanilla essence to your liking.
• Spread the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack until cooled enough to handle.

Then, make the icing. 

• Cook sugar, yoghurt, and half of the butter over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the butter has melted. Simmer to soft ball stage, about 118 to 120°C (235 to 240°F), stirring all the time.
• Remove from heat and allow to stop bubbling, then begin to beat the icing: every time is thickens, add a quarter of the butter. 
• Once the butter is completely beaten in and the icing has thickened, pour as much as you'd like over the still warm flapjacks. If you have icing leftover, store it in the fridge for another project.
• Put the flapjacks in the fridge for about 4 hours to set the icing. Allow to come up to room temperature after the icing has set to cut easily. Cut into as many pieces as you'd like.

STORAGE

These will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you live in a warm region, keep them in the fridge to stop the icing from melting.

Variation on a Theme: Choco-Nut Granola with Cranberries

I was originally considering calling this Schoko-Nuss Granola, because for some bizarre reason when I think of things with chocolate and nuts I imagine something that would be sold in Lidl or Aldi with big yellow letters on the packaging shouting German at you. Word association, eh? Gotta love it.

Seeing as eating granola seems to be my modus operandi for breakfast, I though I'd make a few different versions of granola. Last week I made normal granola with some trail mix thrown in, but I thought I'd take a different kind of spin on it for this week.

The inspiration for this was a recipe in a cookery book that I read at a friend's house about how to be ever so dappily vintage and what-not and throw vintage tea parties; this new obsession among the middle classes with the vintage chic is getting quite wearing, I think.

But anyway, all I did was use my Basic Granola recipe and added 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of the mixed spice, and added in 2 ounces (55 grammes) of toasted and chopped mixed nuts and 2 ounces (55 grammes) of dried cranberries. It was right nice, and it's quite difficult to keep the portions small...

This granola is great because is makes your milk go all chocolatey, for those with inner children who love Coco Pops. This not demonstrated in the picture below as I had literally just poured the milk in.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: No Money = No Baking

Basic Granola (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

Recently I’ve been trying to get a better handle on my diet as it’s got out of hand due to busy scheduling. This process is starting with what I eat for breakfast, as over the last while it’s literally been Crunchy Nut cornflakes every day. As such, I decided to shake up the usual Muesli or porridge route by making some lovely, delicately spiced granola!

At the beginning of the week I made a big batch of this delicious stuff that I could eat with milk in the mornings, accompanied by fruit in either smoothies or juice form. So far so good! Just a third-cup (85 millilitres) with a splash of whole milk of this stuff and two pieces of fruit is enough to keep me quite full til lunchtime.

It's fairly simple to make. Granola is basically a deconstructed flapjack, so it’s fundamentally made of oats, sugar and oil, then you can add what you want to it from there.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Nuts (but you can leave them out)

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) jumbo oats, check for gluten warnings
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) brown sugar
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) water
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cinnamon or mixed spice
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) chopped or crushed nuts of your choice
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) mixed dried fruit or trail mix

HOW-TO

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate).
• Mix the sugar, oil, water and spices together in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in the oats and hazelnuts. 
• Stir until the oats and nuts are evenly coated with the sugar and oil mixture, use your hands if you have to. Stir even if you think they are coated enough, there is no much thing as too much stirring when it comes to granola.
• Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, tossing with a fork every ten minutes to separate the flakes.
• Remove from the oven, add in the trail mix or dried fruit and mix through before it has gone cold. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I love these latch jars, I don't know what they are actually called, I'm sure they have a technical name. But they're really useful for storage and making your kitchen pretty...

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, finally!

Oatie Biscuits (Wheat Free)

First recipe of 2014! Here's something nice and simple with only 4 ingredients, without frills.

 (I apologise for the inferior picture quality: 

I should never take photos in my kitchen after dark)

I made these today for my college classmates for two reasons: a) I always bake something for my college classmates, and b) I used all my flour last night in a vegan pancake recipe experiment. The pancakes were quite nice, but not worth wasting all that flour on.

Having said that, I am quite glad that I made these little flapjacky biscuity Hobnobby things as they went down a real treat and were right tasty. A woman in my class asked if I could upload the recipe for her so she could make these with her children.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (use ingredients in italics for a dairy-free version)
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter or block margarine
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) brown sugar
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) golden syrup
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) porridge oats (NOT Jumbo oats)
• Optional: 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• Optional: 1½ ounces (40 grammes) dried fruit or chopped nuts

HOW TO

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). Line one or two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• In saucepan, heat together the butter, sugar and syrup until fully melted and combined.
• Stir in the oats and fruit or nuts, if using, until every oat is coated. It should be a nice thick dough.
• Take tablespoonfuls and roll into balls, placing in the tray 2 inches (5 centimetres) apart to allow for spreading. Flatten each one slightly with a wet fork.
• Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until they become flat little wafery biscuits that are golden around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and pull the baking paper, with the biscuits still attached, onto the work surface. This will cool them down quicker.
• Slide each biscuit off with a palette knife and cool on a wire rack.

VARIATION: You could replace the golden syrup with honey or maple syrup for a more interesting flavour.

Fruit and Nut Flapjacks (Gluten Free)

Flapjacks: oats wrapped in toffee. What's not to like?

I've always loved myself a flapjack, and I would have one every now and again. But once I was diagnosed with a wheat intolerance suddenly they became my main man (that and granola). Anything oaty and caramelly, like Hobnobs or Nature Valley bars were my go-to tea accompaniment for many months before I discovered spelt flour.

But, apart from their wheat-less wonders, they are also shockingly simple, consisting of 4 ingredients only in a easily remembered formula (if you think in ounces, like I do): 1:2:2:4, golden syrup to butter to sugar to oats. Also, you can make them all in one saucepan. Done and done!

INGREDIMENTS

• 1 ounce (30 grammes) golden syrup, or dark corn syrup or honey
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) brown sugar
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) rolled oats, check for gluten warnings
• Optional: 1 ounce (30 grammes) raisins
• Optional: 1 ounce (30 grammes) chopped nuts

HOW-TO

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). Grease and line a 9 inch (23 centimeter) round sandwich tin.
• Melt all syrup, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.
• Mix in the oats and stir until fully coated. You could also add in the fruit and nuts if you want.
• Pour into the tin and flatten out with a spoon. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes until the edges are golden, the it's still soft.
• While still soft, score into eighths. Allow to cool fully in the tin and then turn out. Cut along the score lines with a sharp knife. I've found a pizza wheel works best.

These keep well as they don't really ever get that stale, soft texture. They do, however, go sticky on prolonged contact with the air, so make sure to keep them in an airtight tin.