Maple syrup flapjack recipe

It would seem that I’m not alone in thinking that we should reduce the sugar in our diet – the news has been full of it today and it was even the subject of the radio debate I was listening to.  Blimey – it makes a change for me to be up with the breaking news!

Anyway, having been rained off in the garden, I decided to make a start on our white sugar-reduction programme by making some flapjack.  I’m not planning to give sugar up completely but I am intending to reduce the amount of white refined products that we use. Although I know that brown sugar isn’t necessarily any healthier than white sugar, I do know that it hasn’t been bleached and as it doesn’t seem as sweet as white sugar, it should help us to start reducing the level of sugar that we’ve got used to.

Our flapjack is made from a fabulous recipe that was given to me by big daughter’s school cook many years ago after I was informed by big daughter that my flapjack wasn’t nearly as nice as the school one.  Helen the cook very kindly shared her recipe and we’ve been using it ever since.  The original recipe uses caster sugar and golden syrup – this is my version which uses brown sugar, maple syrup and less butter – and best of all, it’s super-quick and easy!

Maple Syrup Flapjack

9 oz rolled oats

4½ oz butter or margarine

4½ oz brown sugar

1 tbsp maple syrup

Put the butter (or margarine), sugar and syrup in a large pan and cook over a low heat until the all the ingredients have dissolved.

It will be a beautiful caramel colour, thick and creamy.

Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the rolled oats.  Mix well until the oats are completely coated with the syrup mixture.

Tip the oats out onto a baking tin which you will need to line with greaseproof paper, tin foil or cooking parchment so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Push the oats into the corners of the tin and smooth out so that it is level.  Try to keep the edges the same thickness as the rest of the flapjack or they will burn in the oven.  Cook for about 8-10 minutes at 180°C or until golden brown. (If you’re like me and cook on an Aga, it’s the bottom set of runners for about 8 minutes.)

Remove from the oven and mark the divisions whilst the flapjack is still hot and soft enough to mark (you can cut it once it’s cold but it’s much easier to do it straight from the oven).  I got twenty pieces from my mixture but it’s up to you how big to make each piece so you’d get more or less.  Allow to cool and then break into pieces.

And that’s all there is to it!  Super-quick and easy indeed!

You might wonder how it went down when we’ve been so used to eating the original version and I think this picture tells you pretty well!

So, all in all, a successful experiment I would say, and if you’re tempted to try some for yourself, I hope you’ll agree!

Here’s the recipe again in case you’d like to try it out for yourself:

Maple Syrup Flapjack

9 oz rolled oats

4½ oz butter or margarine

4½ oz brown sugar

1 tbsp maple syrup

Put the butter (or margarine), sugar and syrup in a large pan and cook over a low heat until the all the ingredients have dissolved.  It will be a beautiful caramel colour, thick and creamy.

Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the rolled oats.  Mix well until the oats are completely coated with the syrup mixture.

Tip the oats out onto a baking tin which you will need to line with greaseproof paper, tin foil or cooking parchment so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Push the oats into the corners of the tin and smooth out so that it is level.  Try to keep the edges the same thickness as the rest of the flapjack or they will burn in the oven.  Cook for about 8-10 minutes at 180°C or until golden brown. (If you’re like me and cook on an Aga, it’s the bottom set of runners for about 8 minutes.)

Remove from the oven and mark the divisions whilst the flapjack is still hot and soft enough to mark (you can cut it once it’s cold but it’s much easier to do it straight from the oven).  I got twenty pieces from my mixture but it’s up to you how big to make each piece so you’d get more or less.  Allow to cool and then break into pieces.

Let me know how you get on with it, or if you try any variations, such as adding raisins or other fruit!

You may also like...

8 Responses

  1. Sonia Christie says:

    Yum yum! I MUST try those later! They look delicious! Great photos by the way. I made some healthier flapjacks recently as well with Agave syrup a low GI sugar replacement. The rest of the family thought they weren't sweet enough and sadly they didn't get munched – I thought they were lovely, so I might try them again but with the maple syrup instead. Watch this spot! (Or rather The Hairy Gooseberries blogspot!). Thanks, once again, for the inspiration. x

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Agave syrup sounds interesting, and you've hit the spot (!) exactly – it's the sweetness that's going cause problems as we're all too used to far too much sugar (8 teaspoons in a Mars bar, 4 teaspoons in tomato soup!!). It's going to be fun finding out about all these alternatives though, so thanks for the tip! x

    • Sonia Christie says:

      hairygooseberries.blogspot.co.uk/

      Thanks for the inspiration Winwick Mum!

  2. Anonymous says:

    where do we store it?

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Mine goes in a plastic storage box and it will last for a good few days (assuming I can hide it from the children!) xx

  3. Anonymous says:

    This is my favourite flapjack use this recipe time and time again thank you ☺

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content is protected !!