Flapjacks

I hope everyone had a great weekend and made the most of the weather. We had a lovely time on Sunday when our son came over and of course we love spending time with our grandson Ollie, whose now nearly 6 months. He is such a happy baby, always smiling and making cute baby gurgles and giggles. His mum and I took him into town and I did my nannie duties and spoiled him with some gorgeous summer clothes! Below are some pics I took of him yesterday, isn't he so cuddly? OK I had better stop cos I could go on about him all day! Today I made these flapjacks from one of my new cookbooks that I had not used until now, Baking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale. I haven't baked flapjacks for such a long time and the addition of lemon zest and ginger gave these a different angle. They turned out to be just as I'd hoped, typically chewy but with a refreshing burst of flavour! Next on my list to bake from this cookbook will be the Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownies, how amazing do they sound??

Flapjacks

Makes 12
Ingredients
175g butter
175g golden syrup
175g muscovado sugar
350g porridge oats
finely grated zest of ½ lemon
pinch of ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 150oC/fan oven 130oC/Gas mark 2. Line a 20cm/8in square baking tin with baking paper.

Melt the butter in a medium pan over a low heat. Dip a brush in the butter and brush the baking tin with a little bit of it. Add the golden syrup and sugar to the butter and heat gently. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted remove the pan from the heat and stir in the porridge oats, lemon zest and ginger.

Pack the mixture into the baking tin and squash down. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Once cooked, remove from the oven, leave to cool for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a chopping board and cut into squares.

Chocolate & Caramel Flapjacks

I can’t believe I have open fire’s going in May but the weather has been wet and miserable this weekend, providing a perfect opportunity to do some baking! I’ve loved the section “Baking for a Fête” in this month’s Good Food magazine and couldn’t wait to make the Chocolate & Caramel Flapjacks. The recipe is very similar to Millionaires Shortbread but instead of a shortbread base these have a flapjack base, making them lovely and chewy. They are really simple to make, the hardest part being waiting for each stage to cool, chill and set. My hubby couldn’t wait to get his teeth into one of these babies and described them as naughty but absolutely amazing! Word of warning though, when cutting these into squares, its a messy job which entails having to lick fingers many times!!

Chocolate & Caramel Flapjacks

Ingredients
200g soft brown sugar
200g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp golden syrup
350g whole oats
397g can caramel (I used Carnation Caramel)
200g plain chocolate
1 tbsp unflavoured oil, like sunflower

Heat the oven to 150oC/130oC fan/gas 2. Place the sugar, butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan and gently heat until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the oats, mixing thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a line and lightly greased 22cm square tin, pressing it out evenly using the back of a wooden spoon. Bake in the centre of the oven for 40-45 mins.

Allow the mixture to cool in the tin for 10 min (or best results, leave to cool completely overnight), then evenly spread over the caramel. Chill until firm.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then stir in the oil and pour over the chilled caramel flapjack base. Let the chocolate set, then cut into squares.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks

Hi everyone, I’m back! The house move was tough and exhausting but we are settled and enjoying our new home. I love my big open plan kitchen/dining room, which has become the hub of the home and I'm totally loving my new Aga Rangemaster cooker. I hope you all had a lovely Easter and enjoyed lots of baking. I had a lovely time baking in my new kitchen and baked Chocolate Fudge Easter Cupcakes and Nigella Lawson's Simnel Cake and Honey Chocolate Cake, both from her book Feast. But I completely forgot to take pics, opps my bad!

Last week I remembered these flapjacks which are another favourite in our home and it was also the first ever recipe we baked at Sweet and Simple Bakes. My boys are addicted to these flapjacks, they are quick to prepare and once baked you have an oaty, fruity, chewy and delish bar. Not to forget the added bonus of the white chocolate, perfect combination with cranberries. These are great to add to pack lunches, for mornings when you’re rushing out the door, or to accompany a cuppa. I have made these so many times and they fly out of the tin, but they do store well.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks

Makes 12

Ingredients
250g butter
100g demerara sugar
200g golden syrup
250g rolled oats
75g plain flour
100g dried cranberries ( other dried fruits can also be used, blueberries, apricots, etc)
100g white chocolate, chopped (dark or milk chocolate can be used)

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. Line a 23cm square tin with baking paper (please do not use greaseproof).Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large pan over a low heat (stirring occasionally), until the butter and sugar have completely melted. Add the rolled oats, flour and cranberries to the pan, and stir together well. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then mark into 12 squares – but don’t cut all the way through. Allow to cool in the tin completely. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle over each bar.

Apple Flapjacks

What better way than to start a glorious spring day in the kitchen with some light baking and trying out a new recipe. These Apple Flapjacks are so easy to make and not many ingredients, which most of us will have readily available in our kitchens. They are like ordinary flapjacks, except they have chopped apples which produce a really moist, delicious, sweet and buttery experience that resembles what I can only describe as toffee apple heaven! I have a feeling these won’t last long once my boys hit the cake tin. I couldn’t resist and had to add this pic of my cat Coco in one of her favourite spots, by the kitchen window watching me whilst I bake!

"What's that your baking? it smells delish!!"

Apple Flapjacks

Ingredients
250g (8oz) butter
250g (8oz) caster sugar
175g (6oz) golden syrup
425g (14oz) porridge oats
2 apples, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to Gas 4, 180°C, 350°F. Grease and line base a 20x30cm (8x12in) cake tin with baking parchment.
Melt butter, caster sugar and golden syrup together in a pan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in oats and apples.
Spread mixture in tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cut into 12-14 bars; allow to cool before turning out of the tin.

Apricot Seed Bars~BookMarked Recipes Event

It seem's like ages since I last baked or blogged. Sorry for not having been around much lately but recently I have been feeling run down and lost my baking mojo. I woke up today and decided that I had to bake something for my boy's who have missed my baking. So this morning whilst drinking my cup of tea I came across these Apricot Seed Bars, an easy and rather healthy recipe that I've had bookmarked. These bars are packed full of dried fruit, seeds and home-baked goodness. They would make a perfect energy snack if you’re hiking or biking or just need an energy boost fix during the day.

The lovely Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments has a wonderful blog event which she hosts every Monday called BookMarked Recipes, where you bake or cook a book marked recipe from magazines, cookbooks, online recipes etc. I love the concept of an event that encourages you to try out recipes that you've had your eye on. So I am submitting my Apricot Seed Bars!




Apricot Seed Bars

Makes 20 Bars

¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp cinnamon
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
¾ finely chopped dried apricots
¾ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ flax seeds
¼ sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350oF/180oC
13- by 9-inch cake pan, greased

In a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth and creamy. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir into creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in rolled oats, apricots, cranberries, sesame seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven until top is set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into bars.


Recipe source: Bars & Squares..more than 200 recipes by Jill Snider

Banana Chocolate Flapjacks

Finally looks like summer has arrived and gone are the wet miserable days. I spent a lot of time in my garden this bank holiday weekend, enjoying the warm sunny weather whilst hubby done gardening. So it seems like ages since I last did any baking. This morning I decided to bake another favourite flapjack recipe, Banana Flapjacks with dark choc chips. These flapjacks are not as chewy but moister due to the banana, giving these a different but lovely texture. If you have any bananas going ripe in the fruit bowl, these are the perfect excuse to do some easy, simple and quick baking!

Banana Flapjacks

125g unsalted butter

85g light muscovado sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

350g porridge oats

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

100g dark choc chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and lightly butter a 23 x 33cm/9 x 13 in swiss roll tin (I used a 23cm/9inch square cake tin and lined it with baking paper).Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a bowl in the microwave (or in a pan over a very low heat), then tip in the oats, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Once combined, stir into the bananas and combine well (add choc chips and combine), then tip into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface with the back of a metal spoon.Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are turning golden brown and it feels fairly firm all over.Remove and cut into bars while hot, then leave in the tin until cold before transferring to a wire rack.

Afternoon Tea Slices and an Award!

I had a friend stay over at the weekend and she gave me this gorgeous bunch of flowers, my kitchen smells so lovely. I just adore having flowers in my kitchen. Thanks Marja!


I came across these wonderful looking Afternoon Tea Slices at Vi’s Pantry (a forum I belong to), Gail posted the recipe and pics. I immediately was drawn to them and couldn’t wait to try them out. They are a different take on Anzac Biscuits and are absolutely more-ish and one slice just won’t be enough! They are the perfect snack! Thanks Gail for sharing this great recipe.


Afternoon Tea Slices

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tblsp golden syrup
125g butter
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tblsp hot water
300g dark chocolate, melted ( I used milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 160c. Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl. Place golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook until melted. Mix the bicarb with the water, add to golden syrup mixture and stir to combine. Add to oat mixture and mix well. Press the mixture into a lightly greased 20cm x 30cm cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake for 20 mins or until golden. Allow to cool in tin. Pour over the melted chocolate and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares.

Award

Priscilla at A Peek in Priscilla's Kitchen has kindly passed on this "You Make my Day Award" to me. She has a lovely blog and you really need to check out the pics of her beautiful chocolate labrador puppy, Lewis. His just soooo adorable, as is Priscilla for giving me this award. Thank you!

I am going to pass this award to the following:

Rosie at Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake.
Brenda at Tea and Wheaten Bread.
George at Culinary Travels of a Kitchen Goddess.
Anna at At Anna's Kitchen Table.
Kelly-Jane at Cooking the Books.
Pixie at You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato.

Sunshine Bars

First of all I would like to say sorry for not having blogged much in the recent days after Easter but after all that Easter cooking and baking I was in much need of a break. I also celebrated my Wedding Anniversary on Monday and I was wined and dined all weekend, so no baking or cooking to blog. So after a small break I decided to make up a batch of these Sunshine Bars that are packed with so much goodness they will be great for pack lunches or snacking. The recipe can be found here: Sunshine Bars.

Breakfast Bars

I bought Nigella Express last year and this was one of many recipes that I had book marked to make but I had completely forgotten about (that's what happens when you have so many cookbooks), that is until I was browsing the wonderful world of food blogs and came across this recipe on various blogs. So I decided that it was high time I also tried them after hearing great reviews. Well all I can say is I have been missing out big time; these are so good and yep addictive. They were so easy to make too, even if they do take an hour to bake but let me tell you they are worth that long baking time! I have a feeling that these babies won't be around to see the end of the weekend, especially considering my son has his friend staying over today!

Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks

My boys are addicted to these flapjacks, they are quick to prepare and once baked you have an oaty, fruity, chewy and delish bar. Not to forget the added bonus of the white chocolate, perfect combination with cranberries. These are great to add to pack lunches, for morning's when your rushing out the door, or to accompany a cuppa. I have made these so many times and they fly out of the tin, but they do store well.

At the bottom of this post I have added the link to the recipe if anyone would like to re-create these highly addictive but healthy bars of deliciousness ;o)

Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks

Golden Flapjacks

I think everybody loves flapjacks, they are sweet, satisfying and healthy. I love the fact that you can add just about anything to them for delicious alternatives to the basic recipe. I have gone for a basic recipe today of 100g butter, 100g demerara sugar, 100g golden syrup and 225g porridge oats. Flapjacks normally come in squares but i decided to be different today and make them in a round tin. If you are thinking of making these i would suggest using the breakfast porridge oats, i.e. rolled oats. Avoid the jumbo oats as they are too large for these flapjacks. This recipe also comes courtesy of Secrets from a Country Kitchen. I am on a mission this month to only cook recipes from this book, which i find is a great way of getting round to using the cookbooks sitting on my book shelf lonely and gathering dust.