This recipe for Traditional Flapjacks creates authentic British old-fashioned flapjacks with just three ingredients: demerara sugar, butter, and rolled oats. The result is a buttery, crispy-edged, chewy, oaty biscuit that is irresistible and perfect with a cup of tea.
The recipe for these flapjacks is from the 1978 ”Good Housekeeping Cookery Book” which is a nice hefty book with 607 pages. My copy was picked up at a Scottish Highland charity shop near Inverness. The Good Housekeeping recipe is even more simplier than modern day flapjacks as the butter doesn’t require melting before use. Also, this vintage flapjack doesn’t require golden syrup. The result is the most buttery tasting home-made flapjack I have ever tried baking. You can find the flapjack recipe in the Biscuits and Cookies chapter on page 428.
This recipe is perfect for those times when you need a budget-friendly or quick bake for visitors or for feeding the family an after-dinner treat.
It only takes 12-15 minutes to bake these flapjacks so they are the ideal bake to add to the oven after its been used for a longer bake or roast, or bake the flapjacks first before adding something else to the oven to save energy and fuel costs. Once out the oven they can be scored into pieces before cooling. Once cool these flapjacks are nice and crisp.
For more traditional British biscuit recipes have a look at our Digestion Biscuits which are a farmhouse classic and the precursor of modern day digestive biscuits, and these Cornish Fairings which are tasty crispy ginger biscuits.
Traditional Flapjacks
Equipment
- 7-inch brownie-style baking pan
- cutting knife
- mixing bowl
- mixing spoon or silicone spatula
- round-tipped knife such as a small butter knife or small metal cutlery spoon
Ingredients
- 75 grams demerara sugar
- 75 grams butter
- 100 grams rolled oats
Instructions
Prepare the baking pan & preheat the oven:
- Grease the pan with a generous amount of butter or margarine. You can also line it with baking paper if necessary.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan / 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7.
Prepare the flapjacks:
- Add the butter to the mixing bowl.75 grams butter
- With a mixing spoon (I prefer to use a silicone spatula for this as it easily removes the butter from the sides of the bowl), cream the butter until soft and whipped. This should only take a few minutes.
- Add the sugar and oats and mix well until thoroughly combined.75 grams demerara sugar, 100 grams rolled oats
- With the round-topped knife or small metal cutlery spoon, press the flapjack mixture evenly into the baking pan, ensuring that the edges are evenly pressed and the top is evenly smoothed out.
Bake flapjacks:
- Bake on the middle shelf for about 15 minutes. Halfway through cooking, turn the pan around to ensure even cooking. Fan ovens bake faster, so reduce the baking time to 12 minutes, as my fan oven took 12 minutes to bake these flapjacks.
- Flapjacks are baked when they are golden and firm, although they will firm up more as they cool. The edges will look crispier than the middles.
- Allow the flapjacks to cool in the pan for about 3 minutes before scoring them into 12 pieces. Leave to cool completely before removing them from the pan. Before removing from the pan, go over the scores with the knife to ensure they are sliced into pieces right through.
Notes
- Demerara sugar gives these old-fashioned flapjacks their classic golden crunch, but you can use turbinado sugar if you’re in the US, as they’re very similar.
- We have only tested this recipe with butter, but you can try a solid baking margarine if preferred. However, the classic buttery flavour may be lacking.
- You can use rolled oats, jumbo oats, porridge oats, Scottish oats, traditional oats, etc, for this recipe. Any oats that are intended to make traditional porridge oats are fine. However, do not use quick cook or instant oats as they are cut too fine.
- Flapjacks will keep for up to a week in a covered container.