Apple and Cinnamon Flapjacks

T'was the night before Christmas when all through the house, everyone was a-buzz, disturbing the poor mouse.

It's been a hectic day. We have our traditional Christmas Eve get together with our neighbours tonight and the house has been in a state of preparation since 9AM! We've been cleaning, cooking and I've been baking and decorating like a fury and the house is now completely ready for Christmas. I made my traditional cinnamon shortbread, decorated my Christmas cake and was struck by the sudden urge to make something different. As I have previously mentioned I LOVE flapjacks, and I have previously posted a recipe for basic Oatmeal Flapjacks, which forms the basis of these beauties. 

These flapjacks are more moist than the original recipe and the apples give them a very tender texture, the cinnamon lending a slight spice and the raisins giving a burst of sweetness. They don't hold together as well as the other recipe but are perfect served warm with vanilla ice cream! Thanks to the daily spud for the pic :)

Apple and Cinnamon Flapjacks

Makes one 9" pan

• 175g butter,
• 225g light brown sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 350g rolled oats (jumbo oats)
• 2 cooking apples (I use Bramley)
• 200g raisins
• 2 tsps cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 150 C and grease a 9" square tin

Melt the butter with the sugar and syrup in a saucepan over a medium-low heat,

stirring to avoid sticking and burning until the butter has melted completely

Remove from the heat and stir in the oats, ensuring they are well coated in the mixture

Grate the apple into the saucepan and throw in the raisins, mixing well

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and press down with the back of a spoon

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden on the top

Cool completely then cut into squares with a knife and remove from the tin

As I said before these flapjacks are far more prone to fall apart than my original recipe but BOY are they yummy :) They're the perfect way to get away from heavier Christmas treats, and the crumbly bits will taste even BETTER for a light Christmas breakfast served with yoghurt :)

Wherever you are in the world, whether you're at home with your parents, or with people you love, meeting friends for Christmas drinks or spending the evening curled up by the fire reading or watching silly TV, I hope this Christmas is full of magic and wonderful moments for you all.


Merry Christmas from me and my exhausted cookie cutters :) x

Flapjacks

I love flapjacks, the warm buttery flavour and tender crumbly texture of the oats... Just perfect. They're so simple to make too, with basic store cupboard ingredients you probably have on hand right now. This recipe calls for making them stovetop before whacking them in the oven to cook completely which is a totally different method than I used for my Peanut butter and Honey Flapjacks but hey, I'm up for trying anything once.

Flapjacks
Makes 9-12

• 225g butter,
• 225g light brown sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 350g rolled oats (jumbo oats)

Preheat the oven to 150 C and grease a 9" square tin

Melt the butter with the sugar and syrup in a saucepan over a medium-low heat,

stirring to avoid sticking and burning until the butter has melted completely

Remove from the heat and stir in the oats,ensuring they are well coated in the mixture

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and press down with the back of a spoon

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden on the top

Cool completely then cut into squares with a knife and remove from the tin (being careful not to break them up)

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

Also, if there are crumbs left over they make fantastic granola for your morning yoghurt!

Photo credits go to Arctic Garden Studio

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - Take 2

I love OMRCs, the taste, the texture and the warm, inviting smell they leave in the kitchen while they're baking. My very first blog post was a recipe for Slightly Healthier Oatmeal Raisin Cookies because I needed my OMRC fix and am unable to eat the regular kind. But I made a batch for friends the other day and tweaked my recipe a little with apparently good results so I decided I'd post up this recipe too! After all, you can NEVER have too many oatmeal raisin cookie recipes :P

Also, on a sad note, my weighing scales has met an untimely end so I'm using U.S. measurements because I had a mug handy :P

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Makes 12-15 cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp all spice
• 1 1/2 cups jumbo oats (old fashioned oats)
• 3/4 cup of raisins
• 2-3 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 175 C

Put the raisins in a bowl, add water to cover and add 1 tsp of the vanilla extract.

Allow to plump for 10-15 mins

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar.

Add eggs and the other tsp of vanilla and beat until creamy

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined

Stir in the oats

Drain the raisins and stir into the mixture.

Add the milk if the mix is on the dry side

Spoon tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper

Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins, or until the edges of the cookie are golden brown

The centers should remain soft but not too doughy.

Also, my camera's been very dodgy lately so all photo credits for this post go to Dana from The Homesteading Housewife

x

Peanut Butter and Honey Flapjacks

I love flapjacks, the buttery taste and chewiness of the oats in these simple bars is just heavenly. But alas I find myself unable to eat them anymore and have been racking my brains to come up with a healthier alternative. I knew I could replace the sugar with honey to provide the sweetness but I was lost with what combinations of alternatives to try for the butter that would work with honey. I finally decided to give it a shot with peanut butter and roped Ethan into helping (he loves the combination of peanut butter and honey so I didn't need that much rope to convince him). They worked out really well; my kitchen smelled like roasted peanuts for hours afterwards! The texture was just the same and the taste was the right balance of earthy peanut and sweet.


Peanut Butter and Honey Flapjacks


Makes around 20

• 370g jumbo oatflakes (rolled oats)
• 270g peanut butter
• 200g honey

Preheat oven to 175 C

Melt peanut butter in a bowl over boiling water

In a separate bowl, mix oats and honey together

Add peanut butter and mix well

At this point if the mixture looks and feels a bit dry add more peanut butter and honey until the desired consistency is reached.

Spread out into a 9x13 inch pan, bigger if you like your flapjacks a little thinner, and gently press the mixture down (this will create a denser flapjack)

Bake for 20-25 mins until golden

Feel free to add 75-100g of mix-ins after adding the peanut butter. I had nothing in my cupboard but I plan on trying peanuts and chocolate chips next time 

I hope you enjoy my healthified flapjacks and please experiment and let me know how you get on 

x

Oatmeal Raisin cookies

I have to thank Ethan for putting me on to the idea of making these many moons ago. It had never even crossed my mind to make them and now I've made them twice in the same week (they're pretty popular with my room-mates). I've been fiddling with the original recipe a bit by substituting some of the white flour for wholewheat. I think because of this they turned out possible a little bit sconey but hey, they're still full of oaty raisiney cinnamony goodness...-y :P Also, the wholewheat flour makes them dense and really satisfying :D 


I've stuck the substitutions for not using the wholewheat flour down the end in case that's more your thing :)


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


Makes around 15 depending on what size you like them


200g wholewheat flour
100g plain flour (+2 handfulls if necessary)
1/2 tsp baking powder
170g melted butter
200g light brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2 tsps vanilla essence
2 eggs
130g oats
180g raisins


Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C
Soak the raisins in water with 1 tsp of the vanilla essence (this will make them plump up and be wonderfully juicy)
Combine the flours and baking powder in a medium bowl
Mix butter and sugar in a bigger bowl until well blended
Add cinnamon, remaining vanilla essence and eggs and beat until creamy
Add the flour mix and beat until just combined
Add in oats and raising and mix until just combined
Bake for 13-15 mins (edges should be slightly brown and centres slightly soft)


Cool on a wire rack (or dive straight in) :)


Enjoy x


(If you don't want to use the wholewheat flour then 250g of plain flour should be used instead of the combination)