Lay My Hat

I've amalgamated the best bits from several flapjack recipes - 'cos I was fed up (excuse the pun) with feeling guilty over the amount of butter/honey/syrup/sugar that went into making oats tasty!

Lemon Flapjacks

Ingredients
400g oats
3 handfuls of sultanas
1 handful of sunflower seed kernels
1 handful of sesame seeds
1 handful of lin or flax seeds
1 handful of currants
1 handful of flaked almonds
Zest, pulp and juice from enough lemons for 200ml juice (2 very large)
2 or 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Method
Pre-heat oven to 170C fan.
Line baking tray approx 7" x 14"

Mix together oats, dried fruit, nuts and seeds.
Add lemon zest and pulp, then mix.
Add mashed bananas and mix thoroughly.
Pour lemon juice onto mixture and mix thoroughly, leaving no dry mixture.

Spoon into baking tray and press well down with the back of a spoon.

Put in oven and bake for 30 mins for chewy flapjacks, longer for crunchy ones.

When cooked, remove from oven and cut to size.
Leave in tin to cool.
Stored in an airtight container, they keep for about a week.

Note:
You can ring the changes with the dried fruit - try cranberries or finely chopped apricots/dates. You can also ring the changes with the seeds and nuts - but if you use chia seeds, it's best to soak them in double their quantity of water before adding them to the mix.

If you don't want lemon flavoured flapjacks, use milk as your liquid to stick the oats together, and add 2 tsp cinnamon or ginger to the dry mix.

Sounds just right to have with my home made elderflower cordial.

Seems easy enough for even me to try. (Useless as I am in the kitchen) and I love flapjacks!

Would love for Paolo to start up a Recipe page.......

pambon wrote:
Would love for Paolo to start up a Recipe page.......

If only to save the rest of us being distracted by them!

Mols

PW in Polemi wrote: If you don't want lemon flavoured flapjacks, use milk as your liquid to stick the oats together, and add 2 tsp cinnamon or ginger to the dry mix.

I want to try the recipe I found in this forum for Lemon flapjacks.
It's a good few years since it was posted but if the author or anyone who used the recipes remembers can you taste the bananas in the original recipe?

Is the purpose of the bananas to add taste or to bind?

I'm asking because I'm dairy free due to a medical problem and can't add milk as a binder but I don't much like the taste of bananas. Would I be able to omit the bananas and keep the lemons without adding anything else as a binder or would the whole recipe be likely to fail in that case?

I'm no cook OrangeBlossom but wondered if you have tried honey or grated zucchini, carrots or Apple as an alternative binder?

Hi OrangeBlossom

I posted the recipe earlier this month, not years ago - and it's a very forgiving recipe.

The bananas basically help glue the ingredients together, but if you don't like bananas, try using 2 tablespoons of chia seeds soaked for 5-10 minutes in 4 tablespoons of water. This will make a jelly like substance which should act as the glue.

Otherwise, just leave the bananas out and have crumbly flapjacks!

I must say, OH does not like bananas but he loved these flapjacks, and I was not aware of a banana flavour. The lemon flavour overrode all else!

Alternatively, can you eat eggs? If so, try adding an egg to act as the glue.

The milk is only used as the liquid if you are not using lemons and their juice for flavour. I suspect you could use non-dairy milk instead, like soy milk or coconut milk if you like/can eat these alternatives. (I can't stand the smell of coconut - it makes me queasy )

Let me know how you get on.

Thanks both.
I'll try to find time to try them soon. I'll stick with the original first time round and then experiment using your suggestions if I find it too banana tasting.
OB