Date & Ginger Flapjack

Sorry for not updating for a few days but I have spent the week working at another site in a different part of the country which means I have been without my computer for 5 days. I really enjoyed seeing how the different site operated and I got to stay in a nice hotel, travel around in taxies and order room service for the first time in my life which was quite fun and made me feel rather important, however I really missed reading my collection food blogs that I check daily. I have come home and feel so out of touch with what everyone’s been up to.

Anyway, back to flapjacks. These flapjacks were last weeks work treat. They only took 10 minutes preparation work and then they were in the oven and baked in under an hour, making them perfect for when you are short of time and want a sweet treat. Flapjacks are very versatile and take well to a wide assortment of additions, but are also great left au natural. I chose to add dates and ginger to mine, two flavours I always associate with this time of year. The ginger added a lovely warmth and the dates resulted in little pockets of sticky treacley fruitiness that worked really well. I chose to use a mixture of jumbo and regular oats as I like the more wholesome texture they give, but using just rolled oats is fine.

I like my flapjack with a crisp surface and a soft sticky centre, but if you prefer very crisp flapjack then just increase the baking time by 12-16 minutes. They went down very well at work and have the added bonus of being gluten free. They could also easily be made Vegan or dairy free, meaning they are ideal for almost everyone.

Date & Ginger Flapjack
Ingredients
110g light soft brown sugar
110g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
75g jumbo porridge oats
100g rolled porridge oats
½ tsp ground ginger
60g dates

Method
Grease and line the base of an 8inch/20cm circular cake tin and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 150C.
Chop the dates into smallish pieces and place into a saucepan along with the sugar, butter, golden syrup and ground ginger.
Heat gently until the butter has melted, the sugar has dissolved and everything has become smooth and well combined.
Immediately tip the oats into the pan and stir so that the oats get evenly coated in the sticky mixture.
Quickly press the flapjack mixture into the prepared cake tin, pressing down so the surface is even.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until lightly golden.
The flapjack will be soft when you remove it from the oven but firms up on cooling.
Leave for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the tin to prevent it from sticking to the sides and mark the flapjack into triangles.
Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin and cutting into the scored segments.
Makes 8 – 12 pieces depending on size.