Banana & Ginger Flapjacks

Our family have always loved a flapjack. We even named our dog after this favourite treat.

This simple recipe offers itself for many a variation of flavour, and we mix it up with cinnamon and raisins, or cranberries and orange zest, or blackberries, chocolate chips, Apple and pumpkin seeds ... Whatever you have around and wherever your taste buds lead you.

We recently were given an absolute mountain of bananas, and so almost every dish I made for two months contained bananas in there somewhere!

And this is what happened to the flapjacks.

Grab a baking tray and line with greased baking paper.

Into a saucepan dump 4oz butter, 4oz sugar, 7 oz golden syrup or honey and then heat it through on the hob til it's all melty and bubbly. 

Then add your spices if using them. For this recipe I grated in about 2 cm of fresh ginger root, but you can use dried ground ginger just as easily. Add a couple of teaspoons.

Then tip in a generous 1lb of rolled oats. (I used jumbo oats).

Mix well. (You can add seeds/nuts/chocolate at this point)

Spread half the mixture in the baking tray and press down really well.

Slice up bananas all over it then tip the rest of the mixture on top, spread it out and press down well again.

Here's where you can do other fruit variations. (Personal fav. is raspberries!)

Bake in the oven at 180/gas 5 for about 20 minutes. Don't over-bake as they will go too hard. Need a golden gooey, chewy sort of finish.

Remove from the oven and after letting it cool for a couple of minutes only, take a sharp little knife and cut into squares.

Allow the flapjacks to cool completely before tipping out and re-scoring the cuts, then lift each piece out. 

Admittedly, we often feel the need to dive right in and eat them warm. They fall apart rather too easily, but it's worth it for the sheer awesome pleasure!

They will keep for ages in an airtight container, or even freeze really well too. 

Not that they are likely to stay around that long. They are too tempting!