I’m entering my Chocolate Flapjacks into July’s Tea Time Treats challenge, hosted at The Hedge Combers.
I’d been meaning to make chocolate flapjacks for a while – a completely, indulgently chocolatey version rather than just having some chocolate drizzled over regular flapjacks. I finally made these ones for my work colleagues and they completely and utterly exceeded my expectations – they are SO rich and chocolatey that when you bit into them, the first thing that comes to mind is chocolate brownies- they’re that good!
Making them is a cinch – its just a matter of melting butter with sugar, chocolate and honey and then stirring in the oats and baking for 25 or so minutes. I often bake on a weeknight, and sometimes get into a flap with more complicated recipes (British word meaning stressed for any baffled readers!) but these flapjacks couldn’t be simpler. You’ll be eating them within 30 minutes or so. Melt, bake, enjoy. Mmmm.
Of course I adapted the original recipe to make them even more chocolatey. After all, there’s no point in doing things by halves!
- 350g unsalted butter
- 350g light brown caster sugar
- 3 tbsp honey, or golden syrup if you have it
- 200g chocolate (plain, milk or dark would all work – I used a good quality milk)
- 500g porridge oats (I always use the cheapest in the supermarket – in this case Tesco everyday value)
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
First, preheat your oven to 140C/gas 2/275F. Now let’s make like we’re making chocolate fudge brownies and melt the butter together with 100g of your chocolate and the honey. Once that is melted, take it off the heat (you can also do this in the microwave if you prefer) and then mix in the sugar and cocoa powder and stir.
Next, add your oats to the mix, and finally, chop your remaining 100g of chocolate into smallish chunks and stir through. Combine thoroughly until all the oats are covered in chocolate mix and smelling divine.
I used the Lakeland brownie pan to cook the flapjacks, which is 13.5 by 8 inches. Don’t worry if your pan is smaller, you’ll just have thicker flapjacks! I recommend lining your pan with parchment paper so you can get the flapjacks out easily.
Tip your flapjack mix into the tin, and push down and into the corners, as evenly as you can – I smoothed mine down with a fork and it was oddly a deeply satisfying experience. Bake in the middle of your oven for 20-30 minutes (they’ll need longer if you have a deeper, smaller pan) – just keep an eye on them and take them out as soon as they look slightly browned on the edges or once 30 minutes has elapsed.
Allow them to cool completely, and then lift out of the tray with the parchment paper, and cut into generous squares. The longer you leave them to cool, the less likely they are to be crumbly when you cut them (and the chocolate does a good job of keeping these together too).
I have made this recipe twice (in the last week, a great testament to how delicious it is!) and the second time, without the extra milk chocolate and just using cocoa powder as in the original recipe – it still tasted AWESOME and very chocolatey indeed. Make these soon, you won’t regret it!
x Kerry
Rose says
June 20, 2015 at 1:12 pmI made them! 🙂 they came out very gooey as I only had lurpak lighter spreadable, but they taste delicious and my hubby loves it, which is a first for flapjack! 🙂 thank u very much for the recipe and I’ll definitely be making it again! 🙂 Xxx
Rose says
June 19, 2015 at 10:20 amHi, I’m hoping to make these very soon (time keeps getting away from me atm, I’m moving house in the next 6 weeks and have a heck of a lot to do, on top of being 23 weeks pregnant with twins and working part time!) And wanted to ask ur opinion on adding all bran cereal to them; do u think I should omit some of the oats and add in the same amount of all bran or just add some in and keep the same amount of oats? I’m in need of a good fibre source which I can fool my body into thinking is unhealthy so it let’s me eat it! Thank u in advance, Rose 🙂 Xxx
Kerry Cooks says
June 19, 2015 at 11:09 amHi Rose! Is that like all bran strands? I’d probably omit some of the oats or it would be too dry – maybe replace half of oats with all bran?
Congratulations on the twins, how exciting!
Rose says
June 19, 2015 at 11:17 amHi Kerry, yes it is, loL, I forget they make other cereal now 🙂 thank u, that’s what I thought, but wasn’t sure what the consistency of the end result would allow for 🙂
thank u, it’s very exciting and scary! Starting to feel a little more real now, but still a long way off sinking really in! 🙂
I’m going to do my best to make myself some of these very soon! Xxx
Janie says
July 28, 2014 at 10:25 pmHa, it had never occurred to me to put the chocolate in the flapjack (as opposed to on the flapjack). They do look proper scrummy!
Thanks so much for sharing with Tea Time Treats, Linky parties are so much fun & a great way to meet new bloggers (and increase visitors too!) Hope to see you again 🙂
Janie x
Janie recently posted…9 Things I Learnt on a Pro Food Photography Shoot with Olive Magazine
Kerry Cooks says
July 29, 2014 at 8:09 amThanks Janie! I didn’t either until one day and then I did and was amazing! So intensely chocolatey and chocolate chunks too!
di @ life of di. says
February 5, 2013 at 9:56 pmYum! And I heard that either today or yesterday was National Flapjack day? Can’t remember which!
Susannah Bianchi says
February 4, 2013 at 2:27 pmmy waistline is expanding just looking at that first picture. I LOVE maple syrup…could pour it on anything.
kerrycooks says
February 4, 2013 at 2:47 pmThink how much worse it is for my waistline actually eating all this stuff… and yet I soldier on, bravely!
Next week in the UK we have pancake day (shrove tuesday) – do you have this in the US? Pancakes with maple syrup will definitely be required
Susannah Bianchi says
February 4, 2013 at 3:02 pmPancake Day, I love that and no, we don’t sadly. I like the silver dollars…how they look stacked on the plate. We do have the International House of Pancakes which you’d love. They bring out a good 5 different kinds of syrup like apple and blueberry. And gads of butter your pancakes can swim in…ahhhhh
bakearama says
February 4, 2013 at 12:02 pmYummmmm! I picked up some more oats and some golden syrup in the supermarket yesterday and flapjacks were one of my first thoughts – even more so after this! x
kerrycooks says
February 4, 2013 at 2:11 pmYou’re all set!
riversidebaking says
February 4, 2013 at 8:33 amWhy had I never thought of chocolate flapjacks! These look amazing, will have to try ASAP, I know my colleagues will love them!
kerrycooks says
February 4, 2013 at 8:39 amThanks! Honestly, try them asap, they are SO good!
emiliahearts says
February 4, 2013 at 8:02 amOooh they look great. Think I’m going to be choosing my cake thursday cake from your blog recipes this week!
kerrycooks says
February 4, 2013 at 8:39 amThanks Emma! You would love these, they are so easy, not too pricy to make, plus the oats make them (kind of?) healthy!