Sticky Chocolate Orange Flapjacks

Today I'm sharing another nice simple recipe that can be made with the kids to occupy them for a short while in the holidays. 

One made, the kids will then keep pestering you for a slice of flapjack whilst waiting for them to cool - take this opportunity to get them to help with a few chores around the house!

Juicy and Sticky Blackcurrant Flapjacks

At times during half term last week I felt as though I was running a cafe. Kids were in, kids were out, friends were in, friends were out, and there seemed to be a constant request for food. I thought that if I made a batch of flapjacks it would keep them off my back for a while, to enable me to get on with more important stuff, such as catching up with Neighbours on the planner.

Unfortunately they liked the flapjacks a little too much, and they were deemed 'the best flapjacks you've ever made', and lasted less than 24 hours, putting me back to square one.

Blackcurrant Flapjacks

200g butter
200g caster sugar
200g golden syrup
400g oats
200g blackcurrant conserve

• Add the butter, sugar and syrup to a pan
• Heat gently until everything has melted and the mixture starts to come to the boil around the edges
• Remove from the heat and stir in the oats
• Add half of the mixture to a lined and greased 13"x9" pan & press down
• Spread the jam evenly over
• Add the remaining oat mixture over the jam & smooth over
• Bake in a preheated 170C oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown
• Allow to cool fully in the tin before slicing into squares

Cinnamon Apple Muesli Squares (& a new scooter)

Two things that make a thirteen year old boy smile - food and the arrival of a shiny new scooter.

The food in question was a delicious flapjack type creation and the scooter was the Team Series Zycho scooter in black.

It was a lovely warm evening so we took a walk down to the park where the boys could try out the new wheels and eat Cinnamon Apple Muesli Squares in the sun.

To say that Sam was impressed with the scooter was an understatement, and he whizzed around jumping, spinning & twirling (that's quite possibly not a cool scootering technical term).

(grazes not caused by a scooter accident!)

Jack then gave it a spin (with one shoe on - don't ask), but it was short-lived as he was worried that Sam would eat the last flapjack.

For all the technical spec on this and all the other Zinc scooters, visit their website.

Cinnamon Apple Muesli Squares

150g Butter
150g Caster sugar
150g Golden syrup
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Braeburn apple, grated
350g Muesli - I used Dorset cereals Spelt, Fruit & Nut Muesli 
100g plain flour (you may need adjust the quantity depending on how floury the muesli is)

• Heat the butter, sugar and syrup in a large pan over a medium heat until it just starts to bubble around the edge
• Stir in the cinnamon, apple, muesli and flour until well combined
• Pour into a 9" greased & lined square cake tin
• Bake in a preheated 170C oven for approx 25-30 minutes
• Allow to cool in the tin before slicing into squares

 

I was provided with the Zinc scooter free of charge

Football, Family & Flapjacks

We've just had a great weekend with lots of family time accompanied by great weather, which always helps.

We started on Saturday morning with both boys going to football whilst I prepared a picnic and made some flapjacks. We were then off down the M6 to meet up with my cousin for a picnic and a game of football in the park before going to a birthday party and then onto my parents house for a glass or two of wine whilst the kids again played football in the park with Pop Pop and his brother. It was then back home, up the M6, to watch Britain's Got Talent and bed.

Sunday morning was spent enjoying the sunshine in the garden before Hanna went to the school Duck Race with friends and we headed to Lichfield for a nail-biting football match.

It was then back to the local to meet up with Hanna, count a few ducks (of the plastic variety), quick pint and then home, and a chance to sit in the garden whilst the sun was still shining. Oh and did I mention that we also managed a trip to the pet shop to buy a new hamster!

An early lunch was called for on Sunday so I decided it would be a nice easy one, courtesy of Princes who sent us some of their Jumbo Hotdogs. To celebrate the upcoming World Cup in Brazil Princes also included a recipe for Hot Dog with Chilli Bean Salsa, inspired by the Brazilian version of the hot dog - 'Cachorro Quente'. The kids don't like food too spicy so I made a simple tomato salsa instead, minus the chilli and added a slice of cheese! If you're feeling braver than my kids the recipe is below - load up those hot dogs with toppings - the more the better!

I managed to make two batches of flapjacks over the weekend, with a layer of home-made rhubarb jam in the middle (made using my first crop of home grown rhubarb!). If you don't have any rhubarb jam, any jam will do.

Rhubarb Flapjacks

200g Butter or margarine

200g caster sugar

200g Golden syrup

400g Oats

150g Rhubarb jam

• Add the butter, sugar and syrup to a pan
• Heat gently until everything has melted and the mixture starts to come to the boil around the edges
• Remove from the heat and stir in the oats
• Add half of the mixture to a lined and greased 13"x9" pan & press down
• Spread the jam evenly over
• Add the remaining oat mixture over the jam & smooth over
• Bake in a preheated 170C oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown
• Allow to cool fully in the tin before slicing into squares

Chilli Bean Salsa

125g drained & rinsed cannellini beans

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 small green chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

4 cherry plum tomatoes, diced

optional toppings

potato sticks

2-3 jalapeno sliced peppers

mashed potato with wholegrain mustard

• Roughly mash the beans with a fork
• Stir in the olive oil, lemon juice, chilli and garlic until combined
• Stir in the coriander, spring onions & tomatoes

To serve - place a hot dog in a roll & top with fried onions & peppers & generously spoon on the chilli bean salsa

Chocolate Chai Latte Flapjacks

Flapjacks are a great go-to recipe when I need to make a sweet treat, and whatever I add to them usually depends on what I have in my kitchen cupboards - whether it be dried fruit or chocolate. When I received some Chocolate Chai Latte in the latest Degustabox I thought it would be a great way to add a subtle spice flavour to the flapjacks. Once again the kids loved these - there's not actually a lot that my kids don't like, although Jack doesn't seem to like the school puddings as they just don't taste like the puddings Mummy makes (that's ma boy!)

Chocolate Chai Latte Flapjacks

175g butter or margarine

150g caster sugar
50g Drink Me Chai Chocolate Chai Latte powder

175g golden syrup

350g oats

• Add the butter, sugar, chai latte powder & syrup to a saucepan
• Heat gently until the butter has melted & sugar dissolved & the mixture starts to bubble around the edge, mixing well
• Remove from the heat & stir in the oats
• Divide the mixture between two square 8" baking tins lined with baking paper & press down
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 15 minutes
• Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into bars or squares

 

Raspberry & Apple Muesli Flapjacks

Last week I needed to rustle up a sweet snack quickly for the Mums of Jack's friends that were coming to his party. I knew that some of them would stay for a cuppa during the party or a cheeky glass of wine after and I wanted to offer them something other than cupcakes with grass green icing.

Flapjacks are nice and easy to make and only take a few minutes to prepare and not much longer to bake, and it's easy to add whatever flavours you want.

Some flavours that I've made previously are :

White Chocolate & Berry

Ginger & Mango

No added sugar Fruit & Nut

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Crispy Chocolate Chip

When I was sent some of the new Tasty Toasted Muesli from Dorset Cereals I knew that it would make great flapjacks, and I wasn't wrong. The muesli is packed with sultanas, cranberries, apple and raspberries, making the flapjacks lovely and fruity.

 

Raspberry & Apple Muesli Flapjacks

150g Butter

150g Demerara sugar
150g Golden syrup
350g Fruity Muesli

• Add the butter, sugar & syrup to a pan
• Heat gently until all the butter has melted
• Continue to heat, stirring regularly, until it just starts to bubble
• Remove from heat & stir in the muesli
• Mix well & press into a buttered baking pan
• Bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes
• Allow to cool in the tin
• Refrigerate until set before slicing into bars or squares

I was sent 3 boxes of Dorset Cereals Tasty Toasted in raspberry & apple, spelt, fruit & nut and hazelnut & brazil flavours

Ginger & Mango Flapjacks

After the busy weekend doing Team Honk stuff I had a day to catch up before taking the kids to London for the day with friends. I baked some flapjacks to take with us as I knew they would get hungry during the two hour train journey, which they were, and the flapjacks filled them up enough until lunchtime, after we'd taken a trip on the London Eye.

Afterwards we then paid a visit to Madame Tussauds, before jumping on a double decker bus back to Euston and the long journey home.

Ginger & Mango Flapjacks

175g butter or margarine

175g caster sugar

175g golden syrup

100g dried mango

1tsp ground ginger

350g oats

• Add the butter, sugar, syrup, mango & ginger to a saucepan
• Heat gently until the butter has melted & sugar dissolved & the mixture starts to bubble around the edge
• Remove from the heat & stir in the oats
• Divide the mixture between two square 8" baking tins lined with baking paper & press down
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 15 minutes
• Allow to cool before drizzling white chocolate over (optional) and cutting into triangles

White Chocolate & Berry Flapjacks

At the end of last year I was sent a Degustabox to review, some of the contents of which I made into a Chocolate Chai Cheesecake. Last week I received the latest box containing the following...

Zico Chocolate Coconut water

Amy's Kitchen soup

Kombucha fermented tea

Dorset Cereals berry granola

Jules Destrooper Butter crisps

Quinola Mothergrain quinoa

Maggi So Juicy (x3)

Goody Good Stuff sweets (x2)

Pasta (not listed)

According to the information within the box the value of the items totalled £17.40 which, if you paid £12.99 for the box and would use all of the items within the box, would be a reasonable saving, however I don't think the saving is great enough to encourage me to buy this box as there are a few items within the box that I would neither buy nor use.

There was one product in this box that was definitely very welcome though. Dorset Cereals Berry Granola is a lovely cereal with lots of freeze dried fruity bits and crispy oat clusters. It was this product that I decided to use in my recipe for White Chocolate and Berry Flapjacks.

White Chocolate & Berry Flapjacks

150g Butter

150g Demerara sugar
150g Golden syrup
250g Berry Granola
100g Oats
50g White chocolate, melted

• Add the butter, sugar & syrup to a pan
• Heat gently until all the butter has melted
• Continue to heat, stirring regularly, until it just starts to bubble
• Remove from heat & stir in the granola & oats
• Mix well & press into a buttered baking pan
• Bake in a 180C oven for 15 minutes
• Allow to cool in the tin
• Refrigerate until set
• Drizzle the white chocolate over the flapjacks
• Allow the chocolate to set before slicing into bars or squares

If you would like to try a Degustabox for yourself you can receive a £3 discount by using the code C50D9.

I was sent the box free of charge for the purpose of this review

52 Cook Books : Apple & Apricot Flapjack Bars

It's week 2 of the 52 Cook Books challenge and this time I got Jack to select a cook book from his wardrobe, and he picked BBC Good Food - The Collection, with 480+ triple tested recipes. This is another cook book that I don't think I've ever cooked a recipe from, although I do like browsing through it. It's a lovely book with pictures for every recipe, which is what I love in a cook book!

Based on ingredients we already had in the cupboards we selected Apple & Apricot Flapjack Bars as they looked delicious, and kind of healthy with fruit sandwiched between shortbread and a sticky oaty topping.

I followed the recipe almost to the book, apart from substituting a different sugar, using less golden syrup for the topping as it seemed a little too much.

We all loved these & will definitely make them again.

 

Shortbread base
100g butter, softened
50g caster sugar
175g plain flour

Fruit filling
2 medium cooking apples
25g caster sugar
175g chopped apricots

Oaty topping
grated zest of 1 orange & 1 tbsp of juice
150g golden syrup
8 tbsp oats

• Beat the butter & sugar together until creamy
• Stir in the flour
• Press into a 9" square baking tin (I used a silicone one which didn't need greasing or lining)
• Prick with a fork all over and bake in a preheated 160C oven for 15 minutes
• Set aside to cool
• In the meantime peel, core & chop the apples
• Add to a microwaveable bowl with the sugar, cover & cook on full power for 3 minutes
• Add the apricots and return to the microwave for approx 2 minutes, or until cooked
• Pour the fruit filling over the base & smooth over
• Make the oaty topping by mixing all the ingredients together, warming in the microwave for 20-30 seconds will make it easier to mix
• Increase the oven to 190C 
• Pour the oaty topping on top of the fruity filling and smooth over
• Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown

No Added Sugar Fruit & Nut Flapjacks

It seems as though lots of people are starting the new year off with a health kick, out with the cakes and puddings and in with the fruit smoothies and crispbread, and this household is no exception. Just before Christmas the husband was told that he's now diabetic, leaving me with a vacant position of chief taste tester (applications on the back of £50 notes please), and no urge to bake (hence the radio silence from my blog), I mean, a cake without sugar is, well, bread...and we have loaves of the stuff cramming every inch of the freezer.

I do like a challenge though, so my aim now is to come up with some healthy (ish) recipes that use little or no added sugar that are also tasty enough for the whole family to enjoy.

First up, flapjacks - they seem pretty healthy, what with all those oats, but they also contain quite a lot of butter and sugar. I've replaced the sugar with dried fruits and the butter with olive oil and thereby reducing the saturated fat significantly (13g in 100ml Olive oil versus 48g in 100g butter). I added a few peanuts to give them a crunch but you can leave these out or replace with another nut - we have an abundance of salted peanuts after Christmas!

No Added Sugar Fruit & Nut Flapjacks - makes 16

125g Dates

125g Dried Apricots

150ml boiling water

100ml Olive Oil

50g peanuts, chopped (I used salted peanuts & rinsed the salt off)

200g Porridge Oats

• Chop the dates & apricots and place in a bowl
• Pour the boiling water over, stir and cover and leave overnight.
• Blend the dates/apricots/water to a paste
• Heat the paste and olive oil in a pan until it comes together - approx 5 minutes, remove from heat
• Stir in the chopped peanuts and oats and stir well
• Press into a well greased 20cm x 20cm square pan - I use a sandwich bag over my hand for this
• Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 18-20 minutes, until lightly browned
• Cut the flapjacks into squares and allow to cool fully in the tin before removing

I was quite impressed with how well these turned out, they didn't fall apart and are plenty sweet enough. Everyone, apart from Sam (who said they were 'too nutty') liked them too - even Jack, who took one bite, said he didn't like it and then later said he did and ate a whole one, claiming they were 'delicious'.

Cooking With Your Toddler - Chocolate Peanut Butter Flapjacks

Peanut butter is one of the staple foods in our household and we all love it...well all but the husband...but he does eat it from time to time unknowingly! I use it in cookies, sandwiches and even in curry, and this week myself and Jack are adding it to Flapjacks.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Flapjacks :

100g butter

100g demerara sugar

200g Golden Syrup

150g Crunchy Peanut Butter

250g Jumbo Oats

200g Quick Cook Oats

Topping

100g milk chocolate chips

50g smooth peanut butter

• Melt the butter, sugar, syrup & peanut butter over a low heat

• Stir in the Oats

• Mix well

• Press into a large greased baking tin - mine was a 9" x 13" - tip: put a sandwich bag over your hand & press down, that way it doesn't stick

• Bake in a 180 degree (C) oven for 15-25 minutes, until golden brown
• Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a glass bowl in the microwave for around 1 minute - stirring every 20 seconds until just melted, stir until smooth
• Spread chocolate over the warm flapjack and allow to cool completely & the chocolate topping firms up
• Cut into squares or bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Flapjacks

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