Fruity Flapjacks are just amazing. This recipe is quick and easy to make at home, uses just a few simple ingredients, and makes the most delicious homemade snack. These oat-based bars, which you may also know as granola bars are filled with delicious dried fruit, seeds, and nuts to make a great mid-morning snack or a sweet treat for lunch boxes.
Why you want these Fruity Flapjacks
- makes a healthy snack as they’re full of good things; seeds, oats and dried fruits
- taste good – this is a healthy bar that you are going to want to eat
- better for you than a lot of highly processed snacks and you are in control of what’s in this bar.
- chewy, sweet and filled with wholesome ingredients
Ingredients for this Fruity Flapjack Recipe
Oats: I recommend using rolled oats or porridge oats. These are a more delicate-sized oat which means the flapjack sticks together well to make something easy to transport around in lunchboxes without fear of it disintegrating.
Seeds and Nuts – Sesame Seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts combine to give a lovely crunch and add a few important vitamins, minerals and proteins.
(See our homemade Granola Recipe and our Peanut Granola Recipe for other ideas on including a few more nuts and seeds in your daily diet.)
Fats: Hold all these loose ingredients together to make this fruity, nutty seedy flapjack bar. Use either butter, coconut oil, or a margarine suitable for baking.
Dried fruit: This recipe uses dried fruit to add a little sweetness and a little texture. I’ve used a mixture of dried apricots and dates You may substitute your favourite combination of dried fruit if you wish but keep the overall amount the same.
Sugar: Muscovado sugar gives sweetness and adds to its gorgeous caramel-like flavour.
Golden Syrup, Maple Syrup or Honey – Use whichever one you prefer. These are interchangeable in the recipe. and whichever one you use, they are included to add sweetness and a little flavour. The syrup keeps them just a little soft and chewy.
Cinnamon: Completely optional but a brilliant spice, added for its warming aromatic flavour.
The complete recipe with exact amounts is listed below.
How to make Fruity Flapjacks
These fruit, nut and seed flapjacks are very easy to make. Here’s a quick walkthrough of what you need to do.
Start by lining an 18cm by 25cm tin with baking parchment. Allow the baking parchment to overhang the tin a little so that it makes a handle which makes it easy to remove the flapjacks once baked.
Carefully tip the toasted oats and nuts into the saucepan.
Add in the cinnamon and dried fruit and stir until everything is coated with the syrup mixture. Tip this into the prepared tin, pushing the mixture into the corners and smoothing it down gently.
Use a large saucepan (it needs to accommodate the oats and nuts later), and melt the coconut oil or butter (or suitable margarine) over low heat.
Add the muscovado sugar and your choice of maple, honey or golden syrup. Stir as you do this and once it has all melted, remove the pan from the heat.
Put into the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, you are looking for a soft golden brown colour.
At the end of the 30 minutes or when the flapjack is golden brown, take the tin out of the oven and leave it to cool before carefully removing it from the tin to cool completely. . Don’t they smell good?
Once cool, slice into twelve generously sized portions or more, smaller ones.
These will keep well in a tin for three or four days but I never find that they last that long once released into the wild.
Make them Different
There are a few alterations you make to this recipe to ring the changes or use what you have in your kitchen cupboards.. Here are a few of our favourites.
- Using chocolate chips instead of dried fruit works brilliantly.
- Use dried cranberries instead of the dried apricots or a mixture of dried fruit.
- Try adding 100g of chocolate chips along with the dried fruit.
- What about a ginger, orange and chocolate version? To make this, omit the cinnamon and use 1 tsp of ground ginger and the grated zest of an orange. Once the Toasted Oat bars have cooled, melt a 150g bar of your favourite chocolate, spread it on the top and leave to set. Delicious.
Make these gluten-free
Looking for a delicious homemade gluten-free snack? Then follow this recipe but make sure you’re using certified gluten-free oats.
Make them Vegan-Friendly
Looking to make vegan-friendly flapjacks? Make these Fruity Flapjacks vegan-friendly by substituting vegan-friendly margarine (Check that it’s suitable for use in baking) or use coconut oil. I’ve found that coconut oil makes a delicious oaty flapjack.
Storing these Flapjacks
Once cooled these Fruity Flapjacks will store well in an air-tight container for up to 4 or 5 days. You may find that they are so delicious that they don’t last that long, they’ll literally fly out of the storage jar.
Please share any thoughts or photos, I’d love to see what you’ve been making.
If you like this recipe… then you might like these
Easy Fruity Flapjacks Recipe
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
- 1 spoon or spatula
- 1 baking tin
- 1 baking parchment enough to line the baking tin
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted – substitute with margarine which is suitable for baking if preferred.
- 1/2 cup light muscovado sugar
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 3 tablespoon honey substitue maple syrup or golden syrup
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup dried dates
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon substute allspice or mixed spice if you prefer.
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 320F/160C/140C/gas 3.
- Line a 18cm by 25cm pan.
- Measure out the oats, 2 1/4 cups rolled oats sesame seeds1/3 cup sesame seeds, sunflower seeds3/4 cup sunflower seeds and walnuts 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and lay them out on a baking tray in a single layer if possible.
- Pop the tray into the oven for five minutes. After five minutes, remove from the oven, move the seed mix around and pop it back into the oven to toast for a further five minutes.
- As this is happening, melt the butter 1/2 cup butter or margarine in a large saucepan with the honey, 3 tablespoon honey, muscovado sugar 1/2 cup light muscovado sugar. Stir until it becomes quite liquid. Do not allow this to boil.
- Once the oat and seed mixture has finished toasting, add it to the saucepan with the ground cinnamon and dried fruit 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup dried dates.
- Mix it together well until all the ingredients are coated with the melted coconut oil, sugar syrup.
- Tip this gently into the prepared baking tin. Push the mixture into the corners and smooth down gently.
- Put the tin into the oven for around 30 minutes. By this time the flapjacks should be nicely golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool before taking them out of the pan and cutting into slices.
Notes
Nutrition
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