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Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

October 06, 2016 0 Comments

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

How to Make Flapjacks

These are by far the easiest and consistently delicious teatime treats I've ever made. I've tried a multitude of variations over the years e.g. added fruits / nuts / marshmallows / biscuits, always with great success, but I think the original recipe because of it's simplicity, is still my favourite. 

As with all our recipes, tweak according to personal preference e.g. if not sweet enough, add extra sugar, if too sweet, add a little less etc. Feel free to share your own hints, tips and recommendations in the comments section.

Check out all recipes here

Makes 16 small squares

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes  

Ingredients:

5oz / 120g porridge oats (jumbo or porridge oats)

3oz / 75g sugar

4oz / 110g butter (slightly salted) or if preferred, low fat spread (suitable for cooking)

***If you want to make plain flapjacks, simply leave out the next ingredient i.e. the chocolate chips, but follow the recipe as normal**

6 oz / 150g Robins and Sons Chocolate chips (or good quality chocolate) 

Optional – dried cherries, raisins, nuts

Required:

Shallow baking tin 20cm x 20cm (greased)

Mixing Bowl - microwaveable / heatproof

Method:

Pre heat oven to 1900C / 375 0F/ gas mark 5

 

1.  Weigh out oats and sugar into a mixing bowl and stir to mix thoroughly.

 Chocolate chip flapjacks oats sugar

  

 2. Add 50g Robins and Sons Chocolate chips to the oats / sugar and again mix thoroughly.  

 

Chocolate chip flapjacks Robins and Sons
 
 
 

3. Melt the butter in either the microwave or in a saucepan – melt gently and avoid browning or burning the butter as this will affect flavour. 

 

chocolate chip flapjacks melted butter

 

  

4. Tip the melted butter into the oats / sugar / chocolate chip mixture and stir. Take a little bit of extra time to make sure the entire mixture is coated with the melted butter.

Chocolate chip flapjack

  

 

5. Tip out your mixture into a greased baking tin, and use your hands or the back of a spoon to press all over the mixture to even it out.

chocolate chip flapjacks

 

 

6. Bake in the centre shelf of the oven for 15 minutes or until a pale, golden brown colour.

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

 

 

7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

8. When the flapjack has cooled, melt the remaining 100g of chocolate chips – either in the microwave or using a bain marie. Whichever method you use, if using a bar of chocolate, break the bar into small equal size pieces before starting to melt.

  • Bain Marie method – for those of you that do not possess a Bain Marie, the same effect can be achieved using a heatproof bowl suspended above a saucepan of gently simmering water. A glass pyrex bowl or plastic bowl is ideal, and provided the bowl doesn't fit completely inside the pan (i.e. bowl is slightly larger so only the bottom half of the bowl sits inside the saucepan and the top part sticks out of the top) the base of the bowl will not touch either the water or base of the pan.
  • Microwave method – chocolate can burn very quickly and easily in the microwave, leaving you with a crumbly blob, which is edible, but can neither be poured or spread over your flapjack (so you might just have to eat it…and there’s the silver lining). Melt the chocolate pieces in a microwavable bowl for 30 seconds on high (850W), take out and give it a quick stir (chocolate pieces will probably still be intact, but it’s good for preventing hot spots). Heat on high for another 20 seconds, stir, replace for another 20 seconds, and it’s usually at this point, the chocolate will start to soften / melt. It’ll liquify (and burn) fast after this point, so be patient, and give it blasts of only 10 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Once the majority of large lumps are gone, the chocolate is ready. Don’t worry about any small lumps that remain, the heat from the molten part of the chocolate will melt them.

9. Here comes the hardest bit of all – whilst the flapjack is still in the tin, pour and spread the molten chocolate all over it, without licking your fingers or the spoon (only kidding….just don’t let anyone catch you :) )! 

Leave to harden. Do not remove from tin - leaving it in the tin makes it easier to cut into smaller portions.

Robins and Sons Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

 

10. When the chocolate is almost set (still slightly soft to the touch), use a knife and cut from one side of the tin to the other in a cross or '+’ shape, going right through the chocolate top layer, all the way down to the oat base, effectively dividing the square into quarters. Depending on how large or small you’d like the portions to be, continue to make further cuts or more '+' shapes, within each smaller square.

11. Lift the individual portions out with a pallet knife or cake slice, and enjoy!