apple sauce flapjacks

Some of you probably already know but I'm soon to be moving to Bangkok. I'm beyond excited but also a little overwhelmed but everything I need to get done before I go. Thankfully one of the items on my list is to use up as much of the stuff I've got lurking in my cupboards and fridge as possible. I hate waste and I couldn't face throwing away perfectly decent food.

I've recently come across the lovely Credit Crunch Munch people and thought this recipe totally fits in with their aims - money saving but super tasty food. Check them out Fuss Free Flavours, Fab Food 4 All and the current hosts Fish Fingers For Tea. Do check out their work when you get chance they've got some awesome ideas going on.

This flapjack recipe results in a fairly soft and tasty snacking treat and I suspect it may be a little more healthy than the typical flapjack due to the lower sugar/syrup quantities. I started with my standard easy flapjack recipe and made a couple of adjustments. So here it is.

Ingredients
500g rolled oats or muesli of your choice (I used 350 rolled oats, 50g dried cherries, 30g currants and 70g chopped hazelnuts)
250g butter
250g apple sauce (I had a jar of homemade apple sauce my mum had given me a while back)
100g soft brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan. Grease a square brownie pan or other ovenproof dish
2. In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, sugar and apple sauce together until they are thoroughly combined. Don't panic if the sugar doesn't completely dissolve. 
3. Throw in the the oats/muesli/nuts/dried fruit that you're using and coat thoroughly in the buttery sugary goodness. 
4. Press the mixture into your prepared dish then put in the oven for around 45 minutes. The flapjack is ready once it is golden brown.
5. Leave to cool for at least 5-10 minutes minutes before you mark into pieces.
6. Now leave it to cool completely before turning out of the pan otherwise you'll just get all burnt and the flapjack will fall apart. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

easy flapjacks

Ok, so all flapjacks are easy to make but I threw these together tonight because I had a few odds and ends in my cupboard that I wanted to use up and I love flapjacks. The beauty of a flapjack recipe is that it is quite forgiving. Once you understand the basics you can vary things according to your preferences. Essentially you need 2:1:1 of oats/nuts/muesli:butter:sugar with some additional syrup if you want the goo. The quantities below make a fairly thin flapjack

Ingredients
200g rolled oats or muesli of your choice (I used a mixture of muesli, crushed walnuts and rolled oats, just make sure you've got more oats than everything else)
100g butter
100g sugar (I used about 80g caster and 20g dark brown sugar because it was the end of a bag in my cupboard)
1 tbsp golden syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan. Grease a square brownie pan approx 20cm x 20cm.
2. In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, sugar and syrup together until they are thoroughly combined. Don't panic if the sugar doesn't completely dissolve. 
3. Throw in the the oats/muesli/nuts/dried fruit that you're using and coat thoroughly in the buttery sugary goodness. 
4. Press the mixture into your prepared dish then put in the oven for around 30 minutes. The flapjack is ready once it is golden brown. Avoid over cooking as it will continue to cook once out of the oven because of the high sugar and fat content. 
5. Leave to cool for at least 5-10 minutes minutes before you mark into pieces.
6. Now leave it to cool completely before turning out of the pan otherwise you'll just get all burnt and the flapjack will fall apart. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea.