Super Easy Fruity Flapjack Recipe

There’s a certain place in everyone’s heart and cookbook for a fruity flapjack recipe.

The crunch of Scottish oats with an added burst of fruity deliciousness makes our fruity flapjack the sweet treat recipe that the whole family will love!

While Raisin Flapjacks and Sultana Flapjacks are usually the most common variations, there’s nothing stopping you from adding whatever other dried fruit, fresh fruit pieces or even jam you’d like!

What is a Fruity Flapjack?

The answer to this question very much depends on where you were brought up.

If you grew up in the US a Flapjack is what we here in Scotland would call a pancake.

A pancake in the UK is more like a crepe elsewhere. In Scotland, we also have Scotch Pancakes or Drop Scones, which are like smaller pancakes. Confused yet?

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Back to our fruity flapjack recipe! In Britain, a flapjack is a sweet baked bar made of rolled oats, butter, sugar and often golden syrup, more similar to a granola bar in the US. They were often served in schools as a pudding and steeped in nostalgia for Brits reliving their school days. For more recipes like this pay our The Best School Pudding recipes post a visit. You’ll love it!

Numerous ingredients can be added, but traditionally, you’ll find fruit such as raisins or sultanas added to flapjacks. We’ll be making these fruity flapjacks today.

The oats soften in the oven and get deliciously sticky as the sugar, butter, and syrup come together around them. The fruit is the perfect interruption to the sweetness, making the British flapjack a force to be reckoned with!

They’re cut into squares or rectangles and are perfect for taking on picnics or for hiking for a bit of extra energy.

Despite their deliciousness, when sitting in a cafe and looking at the cakes on offer, the flapjack is usually underrated and low on the must-have list. It’s easy to forget how tasty they are and how they can stand up to any other traybakes!

Where do Fruity Flapjacks come from?

Ok, so flapjacks aren’t strictly Scottish, but anything that uses Scottish oats definitely deserves a recipe here.

A variation of a fruity flapjack recipe was first recorded in Britain in the early 16th Century. However, this recipe was probably more similar to a tart or pancake.

The “flap” element seems to mean the flip or toss required to cook them while the reason for “jack” is unclear but may be regional. They were popular enough to even be referred to by Shakespeare himself!

“Come, thou shant go home, and we’ll have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting-days, and moreo’er puddings and flap-jacks, and thou shalt be welcome.”

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

However, the first documented recipe where oats were used to form a bar was in 1935. Since then, variations of this simple recipe, on top of the raisin or sultana versions, have become endless. You’ll often find them packed with seeds and nuts now as well.

Our Fruity Flapjack recipe becomes Scottish by using amazing Scottish oats, of course!

Are flapjacks healthy?

Since they appear to mostly be a bar of oats, people often think flapjacks are a healthy alternative to a cake or other sweet treat. However, there’s actually quite a bit of butter and sugar in flapjacks to negate that! While there are definitely versions that contain fewer of these ingredients, we’ve stuck to a more traditional recipe.

Things you’ll need to make Fruity Flapjacks

• Baking tray – we used a 22cm square tin; adjust the recipe to the size of your own tray
• Parchment Paper
• Medium size pan
• Spoon or flexible spatula
• Knife

Ingredients for our Fruity Flapjacks recipe

• 375g Scottish Oats (1.5 cups)
• 175g Unsalted Butter (6oz)
• 140g Demerara Sugar (Just over 1/2 cup)
• 150g Raisins or Sultanas (Approx 3/4 cup)
• 5 tbsp Golden Syrup (This can be replaced with corn or maple syrup, honey, or a light treacle in the US, but Golden Syrup is best.)

How to make Fruity Flapjacks – Step by step method

The joy of the fruity flapjack is how simple it is. Yet, like many of our recipes, it’s bursting with flavour. Once you get the hang of making them you can play around with fillings and toppings to your heart’s content! They’re a real family favourite in our house.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius or 300 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Line your baking tray with parchment paper, leave enough paper to go up the sides of your tray a little. This will both stop your flapjacks from sticking but also help you get them out if you have a deep tray like ours.

Gently heat the pan on your stovetop and add butter, sugar and syrup. Stir slowly while the mixture blends together but do not allow it to boil.

Once the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted take your pan off the heat and add your oats and fruit. We made raisin flapjacks for these photos.

Stir the oats and your fruit in the pan until well covered by all that sugary buttery goodness.

Tip the mixture into the baking tray, being careful not to burn yourself on the pan or the hot sugar.

Once the oats are all in the pan, use the back of a spoon to press them down into the tray. Make sure the whole base of the tray is covered, and press down firmly to form a solid layer.

Once you have a solid layer, place your tray in the oven for 35-45 mins, depending on how crunchy you like them! They will go a light golden-brown on top but will still be soft, as they harden up as they cool.

Once baked, take them out of the oven and leave for about 10 minutes before cutting to the shapes you would like, but don’t remove them from the tray until they’re cool.

Variations

The variations on this recipe are endless. You can add jam, chocolate, various seeds, marshmallows, honey, icing on top—the list goes on and on!

The mixture is quite sweet so we would just suggest you try to balance this with an element of tartness to counter the sweet flavours. Maybe try some freeze-dried raspberries or blueberries or sesame seeds and honey? One we would love to try is a salted caramel chocolate topping to our fruity flapjack! Yum.

Let us know what you think and what variation you’d love to try!

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