
My recipe for traditional flapjacks using gluten-free oats.
Make 16 flapjacks.

Flapjacks have always been a favourite of mine since I was a kid. I’ve been making these for years. It’s an uncomplicated recipe and method.
I’ve found many flapjack recipes with huge amounts of sugar (twice the amount I use!), which I think is unnecessary and too sweet. If you want to increase the sweetness, you can add more sugar. I’ve used what I believe is the optimum amount of sugar to bake tasty, but not over-sweet flapjacks.
This recipe bakes 16 good size thick flapjacks using a large baking dish 23cm x 23cm x 5cm deep. If you want smaller flapjacks or fewer flapjacks, adjust the ingredients and the baking dish to suit. For example, you could make 8 flapjacks by halving the ingredients and use a smaller baking dish (I use a 23cm x 15cm x 5.7cm deep).
Ingredients
- 750g gluten-free oats
- 375g butter
- 185g golden caster sugar
- 240g golden syrup (about 10 level tbsp)
Method
- Place the oats and sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix with a large spoon.
- Cut the butter into small blocks and place in a saucepan with the syrup. Melt the ingredients on a low heat, stirring occasionally, taking care not to burn the mixture.
- Make a well in the centre of the oats/sugar mix and gradually pour the melted butter/syrup mix into the well, mixing all the ingredients as you go. The mixture will be a mouldable one.
- Place the mixture in a lined baking dish, removing all the ingredients from the mixing bowl with a spatula.
- Spread the mixture evenly into the baking dish and compact, especially at the edges and corners. Regularly dip a metal (dessert) spoon in a cup of cold water, compacting, smoothing and levelling the top of the mixture. This gives compact and even flapjacks that don’t fall apart once baked.
- Bake at 170 deg C fan for 40 minutes until golden brown. Test with a skewer to ensure they are baked. Note: ovens vary, so you may need to adjust the temperature and time.
- Once baked, place the baking dish on a wire rack to cool. Lightly mark out the portions on the surface of the flapjacks with a sharp knife.
- After a further 20 mins, using a sharp knife, cut the flapjacks into portions using the marks previously made.
- Remove flapjacks from the baking dish and place on a wire rack to cool. If you’ve used a baking liner, simply lift out the flapjacks by grabbing the baking liner, then separate the flapjacks and place on a wire rack.
Nutrition (per flapjack)
- 16 flapjacks, 440 Calories per flapjack
- fat 22.3g (12.8g saturated)
- carbs 51.7g
- sugar 23.7g
- protein 5.7g
- fibre 4.7g
- salt 0.2g.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/petesbaking