Finally getting back to normality, if there is such a thing. Over the weekend I really fancied baking some flapjacks as I have loads of porridge oats in the cupboard. They are meant to be for breakfast though, Sam! But who can resist a chewy flapjack? I can’t, and unfortunately they’re a mega downfall for me. At the moment I’m battling with my hormones all over the place and I just wanted to relax while doing some therapeutic baking.

I’m testing out recipes from Mary Berry’s new book Quick Cooking this month. Although the book has some delicious savoury recipes, I always look out for the baking ones at the back. Most of the recipes looked easy enough for an experienced baker like me to cope with. As I was in the mood for flapjack, the recipe for Figgy Oat Squares caught my eye. I’m not really a great fig lover and even though I was given a jar or figs last year in a Christmas present hamper, they have stayed unopened in the cupboard. Figs and sunflower seeds might be someone else’s idea of a taste sensation, but not really mine.

Instead of figs I chose to add 50g of chopped, dried apricots to the flapjack mixture. In place of sunflower seeds, I substituted flaked almonds. I don’t mind dried apricots cut up in pieces.

Making the flapjack itself was easy enough to do. I melted butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in a saucepan. The recipe asked for golden syrup but when I got to that part of the recipe, I noticed there was only a tablespoonful left in the tin. That got scraped out and the rest had to be maple syrup.

After all the melted ingredients were ready, I stirred in some porridge oats, the dried apricots and the flaked almonds.

The mixture then was put into a square tin (probably 20cm) and baked in the oven for 25 minutes.

The flapjack was much more chewy than my regular recipe and although had got very dark around the outer edges, the inner pieces looked much better. I think flapjack, although can look plain and homely, is so moreish and comforting to eat.

Mary Berry’s flapjack recipe is definitely one I will keep in my baking repertoire. Though I’ll be passing on the figs, Thankyou very much!

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx