My awesome Flapjacks, How to make some very tasty popular treats - The ultimate Flapjack recipe?

I have always liked Flapjacks and have not made any since "home economics" at school so I recently thought I would give it a go. I have done some experimenting over the last few months with different ingredients and looked at many recipes to come up with what I consider to be the "ultimate Flapjack recipe".

Here is a close up view of what we are going to make.
Chewy Oats with succulent mixed dried fruits topped off with a generous layer of Galaxy milk chocolate. Mmmmmmm tasty!




Items needed to make a tray of Flapjacks: (prices as per ASDA in January 2012)
These items will leave you spare ingredients to make further Flapjacks in the future. For instance the sugar and Syrup will do for several trays of Flapjacks!

1) Lyle's Golden Syrup 907g  £1.33
2) Mixed Fruit 500g bag (ASDA Home bakery brand) £1.54
3) 1kg Quaker Jumbo Rolled oats. box £1.99
4) Silverspoon Demerara sugar 1Kg bag £1.96
5) Galaxy Milk Chocolate 390g £2 (on offer price)
6) Lurpak “unsalted” 250g x 2 packs £1.60 per pack. Any "Unsalted butter" will do such as Tesco Value unsalted butter £1.10 a pack or Countrylife unsalted butter £1.30 a pack.

Other items needed :

• Greaseproof paper or Baking parchment.
• Large cooking pan (must be large enough to be able to easily mix all the ingredients without it going all over the place.)
  
• Non stick Baking tray approx 32cm x 24cm x 4.5cm deep
• Larger baking tray to move them into to separate them when cool.
• A bain-marie (small milk pan filled with water with small Pyrex mixing bowl sitting in it)
• Electronic kitchen weighing scales.
• Oven.
• The tablespoon from a set of measuring spoons
  

Ingredients need for 20 off pieces
300g unsalted butter
75g Demerara sugar
120g Golden syrup (6 tablespoons)
450g Jumbo rolled oats
300g Galaxy Chocolate bar for topping if required.

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/ Gas Mk 2.
Line the baking tray with baking parchment and leave it in oven to heat up.

2. Melt all the butter in a large pan with the Demerara sugar, Syrup and a pinch of salt. Stir well to combine, make sure everything has mixed together well.
The mixture will start to boil and foam at this point take off the heat and stir in all the oats until all completely covered.
Turn the mixture over and over many times to ensure everything is fully coated.
If you wish now throw in a couple of handfuls of mixed fruit and mix thoroughly again.

3. Remove the baking tray from the oven and spoon out the mixture into the tray. Press evenly into the tin using the back of a large spoon making sure its all pressed down and level.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf.
Remove the tray and using the back of a large spoon smooth over the surface to make it flat, while its cooling down a bit prepare the chocolate.

4. Melt the chocolate in a bowl floating in a saucepan of hot water (bain-marie) and then pour and spread over the flapjacks using the back of a spoon. Leave to cool for 20 mins then place in the fridge for an hour or so to set.
At this point take them out and remove them from the baking tray there were cooked in and slide them onto the larger baking tray so you can cut and separate them.




My Flapjacks, here they have been moved out of the baking tray into a larger baking tray and then cut into 20 pieces.



Here is a close up side view of a piece of my Flapjack showing the Galaxy chocolate on the top :




The Ingredients used for making my Flapjacks :


As with all cookery, you can change the ingredients to suit. Perhaps you don't like Milk Chocolate and prefer dark instead etc.

Thanks
Andy