Flapjacks, 2 ways
Exam snacks, road-tripping treats, and airport munchies
Hello beautiful souls,
I am cantering into your inbox with two gorgeous recipes for you to try this week. Yup. Lots of requests coming in for road-tripping snacks and for exam treats during those long hours of study.
Ideally, we want to pack in protein as well as complex carbs if we’re traveling (plus a reasonable sugar perk for my exam bunnies). And if you have a child who is partial to ‘beige food’ and chronic constipation, these flapjacks are for you!
Oats are Ireland’s very own superfood. (I’d probably include blackberries, seaweed, garlic and nettles in there too. But back to oats). Oats contain two types of groovy fibre that excite nurses and health scientists. This grain's swag of soluble and insoluble fibre services our pipes in more ways than one. Ready?
Firstly, oat’s insoluble fibre will help keep you regular. This type of fibre has the ability to police our bowels, improving congestion and reducing transit time like a tenacious traffic warden. Bye-bye haemorrhoids and constipation. Hello light-footed daffodil.
Secondly, oat's cargo of soluble fibre (in the form of beta glucans) can help to sat-nav your pipes for excess cholesterol, like a moody bouncer. There are studies to support beta glucan’s prowess at lowering LDL cholesterol. So they are the star ingredient of both recipes today.
Oats are also a slow-release grain, meaning that they’ll break down slowly in our system making our motor purr for longer. (Also referred to as low-glycemic load). This makes oats an excellent food for athletes, but also good for chronically hungry teens and sleep-deprived parents. And basically anyone who could use an engine service!
The first batch (Plan A) are what I bake at home. They are loaded with monounsaturated fats from the nuts, which your cardiologist and your health insurer will certainly applaud. These flapjacks are my favourite yet. Loads of B vitamins ... B for brain, B for battery, B for badass.
As always, you’ll find a printable PDF version at the bottom of the recipe, for you to email family or print out and pop into your kitchen files.
The second batch (Plan B) are for new readers who are fresh to wholefood baking, and need a gentle segway into this wonderful new world. Plan B flapjacks have considerably more sugar, but will still beat packets of jellies and biscuits at the airport. I designed them to replace those familiar ultra-processed oat bars, industrially packaged in plastic. Making your own flapjacks costs a whole lot less, tastes better, avoids additives or cheap fats, and involves no single-use plastic. Plus, they taste fantastically better.
Both recipes will last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, ready to grab belting out the door in the morning. (They’ll also make the tail-back traffic much more interesting).
I've kept the second flapjack recipe cost-effective by simplifying the list of ingredients, but also making sure no nuts or allergens sneak in to upset school lunchbox policies. Flaxseed makes an appearance too - I want to mainline omega 3 into your little ones, as well as a hefty dose of fibre.
As you know, I normally put my recipes behind the Substack paywall (recipe development is an endless money pitt and time thief!) but on this occasion I’m sharing these treats for all readers. I hope you’ll make them, celebrate their simplicity, and share this post, and perhaps, if you enjoyed it, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting my work. My recipes are like a céilí for your microbiota. I do all the research, so you don’t have to!
In the meantime, stay tuned! More study treats later this month, for snack attacks and summer trips. I want every crunch and crumb to feel like a nutritional slamdunk, fueling your body and your brain. Go ahead and drop your questions or requests below. I really do love hearing from you all.
Don’t forget to check out the Recipe Index to Taking the Hell out of Healthy, where you’ll also find these Mint Chocolate (Bean) Bites to bring joy to the exam season, and high-protein kimchi pancakes to electrify our batteries and our taste buds.
Love, light, and Irish oats,
Susan Jane
x
// Lower-Sugar Flapjacks // Plan A
Serves 20-24
140ml melted extra virgin coconut oil or ghee
100ml good quality honey or maple syrup
2 handfuls of pitted dates (sticky ones are particularly good)
1 large banana, mashed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch
Generous smattering of flaky sea salt
200g regular rolled oats (not jumbo oats)
80g walnuts or pecans, roughly broken
90g ground almonds
Handful of sunflower seeds or hemp seeds
Handful of chopped dark chocolate chunks (optional white chocolate chunks for kids)
Step 1
Fire up your oven to 170 Celsius / 325 Fahrenheit / 150 fan-assisted. A regular 180 oven can be a little too hot and result in crumblier bars. We use a tin no bigger than a magazine page (around 8x10 or an 8x12 at a stretch).
Step 2
Using a saucepan, gently melt the coconut oil with your honey for 2 minutes.
Step 3
Chop the gooey dates and add them to the party, followed closely with the mashed banana and honey. Add any spices you fancy using – orange rind and cinnamon? Lemon zest and ground ginger?
Step 4
Once these ingredients are thoroughly socialised and gorgeously glossy, add your remaining ingredients. I advise adding the optional chocolate chunks last, to prevent any premature melting!
Mix well, and scrape into your pre-lined tin.
Step 5
Press down firmly with your fingers. Bake for 30 minutes until lightly golden, but not darker in shade. Oats will turn bitter if you leave them to brown. Remove the tray from the oven. Resist cutting until they have cooled down. I like to let them firm up in the fridge for a few hours.
We like to swoosh some melted white chocolate across the top, to tempt the teens. You don’t need a lot for this step - just a smidgeon! But the effect certainly outweighs the effort.
// Salted Cinnamon Flapjacks // Plan B
Makes 32
200g butter or ghee
130g extra virgin coconut oil
3 tablespoons golden syrup or barley malt syrup
250g unrefined golden caster or light muscovado sugar
100g sunflower seeds
100g milled flaxseed
400g oat flakes
Generous sprinkle flaky sea salt
1 heaped tablespoon ground cinnamon
Step 1
Fire up your oven to 180C (170C if you're using barley malt syrup, as it browns and cooks much faster).
Line two square 20cm brownie trays with baking parchment.
Step 2
Gently melt your fats together over a very low heat, with the sugar and syrup. Once it’s glossy and smells hypnotic, tumble in the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Leave the mixture to soak for 25 minutes in your saucepan, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Flaxseed benefits from blooming and absorbing moisture.
Step 3
Spoon the mixture into both of your parchment-lined trays. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Swap the position of the trays halfway through, if using an Aga, gas cooker or conventional oven. All three tend to have hot spots!
Remove from the oven once cooked, and allow to cool completely before slicing each tray into 16 squares (four slices across, by four slices down).
