Fruity Flapjacks [Recipe]

[Guest guest]

Today is another cold and cloudy day in Edinburgh so I'm baking

again to try to bring some sunshine into my life. I had a yearning

for flapjacks which are usually made with golden syrup, but then I

found this recipe which uses concentrated apple juice instead and I

just happened to have a bottle which has been lurking in my fridge

for many moons.

 

Fruity Flapjacks

 

125g/4.5 oz butter

6 Tbsp apple juice concentrate

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 Tbsp sunflower seeds

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

0.5 tsp ground ginger

0.25 tsp ground cardamom

225g/8 oz rolled oats

1 Tbsp flaked almonds

40g/1.5 oz seedless raisins

40g/1.5 oz dried apricots

 

Preheat oven to Gas Mar 4/180 C/350 F. Butter a Swiss roll tin.

Over a low heat, melt the butter with the apple concentrate, seeds

and spices. Stir in oats, nuts and fruit and mix well. Spread about

10mm/0.5 inch thick in prepared tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until

golden brown. Cut into rectangular slices and leave to cool.

 

These are very fruity and surprisingly sweet. They do not hold

together in quite the same way that they do when made with golden

syrup, but the flavour definitely makes up for the lack of cohesion.

Of course if I'd been able to bring myself to wait until they were

cold they might have held together better. Different variations on

this theme are already running through my mind. Oh, and I have

discovered today that apple juice concentrate lasts for a very long

time in the fridge.