Favourite flapjack flavours to bake with kids

If you’re looking to get a bit more adventurous with your flapjacks, then look no further. I’m sharing a loads of different flapjack flavours you can try to make them more exciting than just plain oats, golden syrup, butter and sugar.

Making flapjacks is one of the easiest recipes out there, and they’re great for snacks or a quick treat dessert. The joy is that they don’t take ages to bake, they only use a few ingredients which most people will have in the cupboard. You can bake them for longer if you prefer them harder. If you prefer a chewy flapjack then cook for a little less time or add a little more syrup, which will leave them slightly gooier.

Just adding 1 extra ingredient for variety can make a big difference and cater for different tastes in the family each time.

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We tend to just dig into our slab of flapjack in the pan so we can cut of a piece to size that we want. But they’re just as easy to chop up into squares and store in an airtight containers so they last for longer. Just layer them up between greaseproof or baking paper to keep the layers from sticking if you make a big batch.

I prefer to use jumbo oats, but rolled oats work just as well. Just make sure you’re not using something like Ready Brek. Just a basic porridge oat is fine, which you can buy in huge bags for not much money.

I’ve been trying to teach N about basics of cooking, in that get the basic recipe and combination understood, then adapt it as you wish. With flapjacks you can do just that. You can use whatever sugar you want – light brown sugar works well, but if you wat more of a toffee flavour, then try muscovado. But golden caster sugar will work too.

Equipment suggestions

• Brownie tin*
• Pyrex mixing bowls*

Basic flapjack recipe

• 250g porridge oats
• 150g unsalted butter, plus some for greasing the tin
• 125g light brown sugar
• 2-3 tbsp golden syrup

Instructions to bake flapjacks

1. Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan/GM 6
2. Mix the ingredients until combined.
3. Grease a 20 cm square baking tin (or line it with baking paper). A similar sized glass dish will work fine too.
4. Press the mixture in tight to the tin. You can score into squares if you’ll be cutting up afterwards
5. Bake for about 15 mins until the outside edge is slightly browning and the centre is still a bit soft. Leave to cool and it will harden a little.
6. Then cut to serve once cold

Once you’ve got the basic recipe, try these flapjack flavour variations to pep up your oaty bars.

Tasty flapjack flavours to try:

Luxury flapjack with condensed milk – this is my favourite way to make flapjacks, and gives them a bit more of a creamy texture.

Healthy flapjacks – add seeds, dried (unsweetened) fruit and chopped nuts to the mix. Replace the golden syrup and sugar with 3 tbsp of agave nectar. They’ll never be totally healthy, but these have a lot of goodness in them.

Chocolate topped flapjack – top with melted chocolate once cooled, then leave to set

Fruity flapjacks – mix sultanas or raisins into the mix before baking.

Cherry flapjacks – add in glace cherries. You could even add a little almond extract to make it a cherry bakewell flapjack.

Jammy flapjacks – press in half the mix to the pan, then spread a little jam over, then top with the remaining flapjack mix. (you may need a bit more mix for this to make sure the jam is covered)

Christmas mincemeat flapjacks – similar to the jammy flapjacks, but spread mincemeat over. Or you can just mix in mincemeat for a more subtle flavour.

Tropical coconut flapjacks – add dried pineapple, banana or mango and desiccated coconut

Lemon flapjack – add a middle layer of lemon curd, then drizzle with an icing sugar mixed with lemon juice

Chocolate orange flapjack – add in zest and juice of 1 orange to the mix, plus chopped dark chocolate chunks before putting in the tin and baking

Peanut butter and jelly flapjacks – a lovely mix of sweet and salty. Leave out the golden syrup, but add peanut butter and raspberry jam into the mix, spread into the tin, then top with small dollops of jam and peanut butter before baking

Gingerbread flapjack – add 1tsp of ground cinnamon and ground ginger to the mix, plus some chopped up stem ginger if you want a stronger taste.

Which flapjack flavours will you be trying?