Behold! My Sticky Flaps!

I'm in the UK, so in this case, Flapjack is a gooey oaty syrupy bar. A bit like a granola bar, but in a lower tax bracket.

The measurements are in grams. Cups is for heathens!

Warning: I'm going to talk about my flaps a lot.

Prep: ~10min

Bake: ~20mins

Oven: 150°C (fan assisted) - turn it up a smidge if you don't have a fan

Makes: 16 normal sized flapjack squares, or 1 really fucking big one

Ingredients

• 250g oats

• 150g butter

• 50g demerara sugar

• 75g dark soft brown sugar

• 4 (generous) tbsp golden syrup

• Pinch of salt

• Optional:

• 1tsp vanilla extract for the flaps

• 100g milk chocolate & a tiny splish of vegetable oil, for a topping

Equipment

• A medium saucepan (I use nonstick for this, because hot sugar is... well... sticky)

• A standard size metal brownie pan (if you're using a silicon one this will change the recipe slightly. See notes 👇)

• Silicone spatula

• The usual suspects for measuring and stirring, plus an oven is also quite handy

Notes:

How You Do

To begin, as always, whisper sweet nothings to your oven (turn it on).

Put everything except the oats in the saucepan, and melt the lot over a low heat. Stir it a bit now and again.

Do not let it burn.

Do not let it boil; this buggers the sugar and will ruin the texture of your flaps.

Once the sugar is dissolved, you should have a nice caramel coloured syrup, unless you've used dark sugar, then it will be... Ummm... Darker.

Get the pan off the heat, and chuck in your oats. Stir really well - you want them properly coated.

Scrape the lot into your brownie pan and press down firmly. Really pack it in there. Get right to the corners, and aim to have it nice and even on top.

Wang it in the oven, and resolve to check on it in 20 minutes, or longer if you're using a silicone pan (see notes 👇)

It's done when the edges look cooked, crisp, and bubbling. They look slightly darker, but this is harder to spot if you've used dark sugar. The centre is still pale and soft. Like a frogs belly, but more appetising.

Let it cool in the pan.

Score it while it's still warm, and cut it up when it's cooled.

Topping (Optional)

Before hacking it up, melt some chocolate and drizzle it over the top.

If you want a solid chocolate top, rather than a drizzle, you need about 100g.

Use a bain marie (bowl over a simmmering* pan of water), or blast it for 30 second intervals in the microwave.

A tiny splish of oil while melting ensures that's once it's set, you can slice up the flapjack without the topping cracking.

* is that enough Ms for you, Your Majesty? 🤪

Storage

Airtight container, yada yada. Line it with baking paper.

I don't know how long they'll keep for. Probably ages. I mean, they've got four billion grams of sugar in them, and that's a preservative, right? They get eaten within a day or two, so it's moot.

Ingredients notes

Oats:- use real ones, none of that instant shit. Ideally you want a very manly man on the packaging, wearing a kilt, or lifting something heavy. He may or may not be bearded.

Butter:- salted, unsalted, who cares? But use real butter.

Sugar:- I've mucked about with different ratios of different sugars to get the best taste and texture. I prefer this combo. If you want it less treacly, use light soft brown sugar instead of dark, OR a combo of the two, according to your preference.

Golden Syrup:- if you can't get this, I don't know what you could use instead. Maple syrup isn't a good substitute, because it's a different consistency. Perhaps your only recourse is to admire our flaps from afar.

Equipment notes:

I would definitely stick with a brownie pan rather than a baking sheet for this. Otherwise the mix is spread too thin, and this changes the texture of the flaps. It makes the end result brittle and snappy instead of delightful and gooey.

If your pan is a bit bigger than standard, increase the amounts by 25% (same reason). This shouldn't require additional cooking time.

If you're using a silicone pan rather than a metal one, set it on top of a baking sheet to make it easier to get it in and out of the oven.

It's trickier to pack the mixture down properly, because the edges give. Just do your best, and regret your life choices later.

It will need a longer bake time (+~5-10mins)because silicone doesn't conduct heat like metal does. You're also giving your oven two barriers to penetrate through.

NB: If you are using a silicone pan, your flap will finish cooking outside the oven. In this case, if you tilt it slightly you should see minimal movement of the mixture in the pan when you check on it during baking. As long as it's a slow, sludgy movement, this is fine - if it looks too liquidy, it just needs another couple of minutes or so. If you wait for it to look cooked, it will be overdone. (Ask me how I know!)

You'll also need to let it cool as much as possible before turning it out, otherwise it may not hold together well and you'll have a sad heap of sticky oats for your trouble.

Why I Love It

The ingredient list is short, cheap, and mostly things I have in the cupboard anyway. If I do balls it up, at least I haven't wasted a lot of money doing it.

We used to have these in the school canteen. The best bit of school, imo. I've finally hit on a recipe that turns out something similar. I can now enjoy this delightful snack without a side of homework, bullying, and sexist dress codes.

Elevate it

Once you've nailed this one, there are many ways you can fuck about with it to suit your taste buds. Add a pinch of ground ginger. Bung some dried fruit in there, if you really want to ruin it.

But my favourite way to improve the Sticky Flap is to make it even stickier - add a layer of caramel, and then a layer of melted milk chocolate, and then let it set in the fridge. This is a great option because if the Flap doesn't turn out quite right, this hides some flaws. It helps hold it together, and you don't notice so much if it's a bit dry. I've rescued several flaps this way over the years. If it turns out well, it doesn't need it.

If you want a thicker flap, increase the mixture by 50%, and add 5-10mins to the bake time.

School snack

When we were at school, this was a standard breaktime snack, and you can say what you like about the British education system, but by gum they got this little detail right. Perfect texture, held together well, always gooey, slightly crisp at the edges. I swear, catering staff up and down the country must have been sent to a special school to learn this skill before being set loose in the kitchens.

I've been hankering after that precise flapjack for decades, but despite how easy the recipe is... It's also hard. I mean, you just melt it and stir in the oats, and bake it, right? How difficult can it be?

Turns out, trickier than you think. I can't tell you the number of times it's turned out too dry, or too chewy, or too hard, or just fell apart.

I also can't tell you how happy I am to have found a recipe that works and is similar to the canteen flaps we used to enjoy so much.

I share this recipe with you only to gloat; it's useless to you as your oven is different to mine. Good luck, I suppose.

Thank you for coming with me on another culinary escapade 😁