These chocolate-topped Cocoa flapjacks are super easy to make and you don’t need actual chocolate. Good quality cocoa powder is all you require to turn this classic flapjack recipe into a delicious chocolate flapjack treat. These oat bars are full of chocolate flavour, deliciously chewy oats, and they are simple to make. Add an optional white chocolate drizzle to make them even more wonderful.
What is a Flapjack?
This is a recipe for a British flapjack, a wonderful sweet bake made from oats, syrup, butter, and sugar. It makes a welcome treat and is good for lunch boxes, picnics, parties or bake sales.
This version of a classic recipe uses cocoa to achieve that chocolate hit and a completely optional white chocolate drizzle over the top to make it look pretty.
What You’ll Love About These Flapjacks
- Uses everyday ingredients. You’re likely to have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.
- Easy to assemble. This recipe is easy to assemble and doesn’t create a kitchen full of washing-up.
- Transportable snack. These flapjacks are firm enough to transport well in lunch boxes or picnics.
- Satisfying snack. As flapjacks are made with oats they make a filling snack and if you’re desperate for a chocolate hit they satisfy that need too.
- Adaptable – Do you have serious chocoholics to bake for? Then this recipe can be covered in a layer of thick chocolate (or a thin layer) to please everyone. However, they’re delicious without this extra addition.
Ingredients
This recipe uses;
- oats – use rolled oats also known as porridge oats give the best results.. Instant breakfast cereal oats won’t work well as they don’t give a nice texture. Jumbo oats are too large and will make the cereal bars too crumbly.
- golden syrup – wonderfully sticky and golden. This adds sweetness and prevents the oats bars from being brittle, a bit ‘snappy’ and dense in texture. It isn’t available everywhere in the world but you could substitute light corn syrup instead.
- sugar– for sweetness. Use Muscovado or light brown sugar. Their caramel flavours combine with the other flavours in the flapjack.
- butter – the melted butter combines all the ingredients together, if you need to substitute margarine then ensure that it is suitable for baking. The flapjacks will be a little softer in texture. If you need to make these flapjacks gluten-free, ensure you’re using certified gluten-free oats.
- cocoa – use cocoa powder and not powdered drinking chocolate. Drinking chocolate often contains other ingredients such as powdered milk and sugar. You get a more intense chocolate flavour by using cocoa powder.
- Optional White chocolate – this adds a nice contrast in colour to the quite dark cocoa flapjack. I usually only add a light drizzle but if you wish to add more, who am I to stop you?
Super Easy to make Cocoa Flapjacks
This cocoa flapjack recipe is simple to make. Find the specific amounts of the ingredients in the recipe card below.
It takes just a few easy steps. First, gather your ingredients together and heat your oven to 340f/170C/150 fan.
Measure all the dry ingredients; oats, and cocoa into a roomy mixing bowl.
Measure the butter (or margarine), golden syrup and sugar into a saucepan. Melt the ingredients together stirring to ensure they don’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
Once this has melted, pour into the dry ingredients stirring until it is well combined. Add to a prepared baking tin ( 8 inches by 8 inches) 20cm square. Level the mixture off and bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes.
It’s a good idea when lining the tin to leave some baking parchment over lapping the edges a little so that this can be a kind of handle to help you easily get the baked flapjacks out of the tin.
Leave to cool for at least ten minutes before taking your gorgeous flapjacks out of the baking tin. Drizzle with the optional white chocolate glaze and then slice into portions.
Variations to this recipe
There’s not much to change about this recipe before it becomes something different, but here are a few things that I’ve tried and enjoyed.
- Be generous with the topping – Increase the amount of chocolate used for the topping. Use approximately 200g to give it a dense covering.
- Get a little artistic – Swirl white and dark chocolate over the top to have a pretty marbled effect.
- Try a daring experiment – Use different types of chocolate as a topping; white, dark or a milk version. You could even use a flavoured chocolate such as orange. That’s really nice.
- Dreaming of a well-known chocolate bar? Include 60g of desiccated coconut in the oat mixture to create a chocolate coconut flapjack. Now that rings the changes. The flavour is amazing.
- Not too sure of the chocolate vibe? – You can leave the extra chocolate off altogether if you prefer.The flapjacks are still very good.
- Need to consider other dietary needs? Make them vegan. This is easy to do. Use a suitable vegan, baking margarine and cocoa (Most cocoa is vegan-friendly just ensure that it does not contain any milk powder.). Then finish with a vegan suitable chocolate.
Storing these flapjacks
Once your flapjacks are fully cooled and decorated they will keep wonderfully fresh in an airtight container for up to a week.
Easy and delicious Cocoa Flapjacks
Equipment
- 1 baking tin 8 inches by 8 inches – 20cm square
- 1 saucepan
- 1 spatula
- 1 weighing scales
- baking parchment optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter substitute margarine suitable for baking
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 5 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder Use a cocoa powder and not a drinking choclate powder for the best results
- 1/2 cup golden syrup
White Chocolate Drizzle (optional)
- 3/4 cup white chocolate
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/340 F. Prepare the baking tin by lining it with baking parchment or lightly oiling it.
- It's helpful if you're lining the tin with baking parchment to allow the edges to overhang the tin a little. This can act as a kind of handle to help get the flapjacks out of the tin safely once they're baked.
- Add the butter (margarine if using), 1 cup butter caster sugar 1 cup caster sugar and golden syrup 1/2 cup golden syrup to a saucepan. Over a low heat, melt the ingredients together stirring as you go. Do not allow this mixture to boil.
- Measure the dry ingredients; oats 5 1/2 cups rolled oats and cocoa 6 tablespoons cocoa powder into a roomy mixing bowl.
- When the ingredients in the saucepan have melted, add them to the oats and cocoa and stir them all together.
- Once everything is thoroughly combined add them to the pre-prepared baking tin and use the back of a spoon to level the mixture in the tin.
- Once the oven is at temperature, put the flapjacks into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes.
- Remove the flapjacks from the oven and set the baking tin on a cooling rack.
- Allow the flapjacks at least ten minutes to cool before lifting them out of the baking tin and allowing them time to cool fully.
- Add the white chocolate drizzle if using.
White Chocolate Drizzle (optional)
- Melt the white chocolate 3/4 cup white chocolate in a small bowl (heat proof) either by sitting it in a saucepan of hot water or by melting it in the microwave. Heat the chocolste in the microwave by using ten second increments.
- Once the white chocolate is melted drizzle it over the cooled flapjacks. Using a teaspoon and allowing the chocolate to drip off the end works quite well. (Just as in the photograph.)
Notes
Nutrition
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Other recipes that you may like …
- Granola Recipe (with sticky dates)
- No-bake Granola Bar
- Oatmeal Granola Bar (with dried fruit and seeds)
- Maple Syrup Flapjacks
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