Make Your Own Healthy Vegan Flapjacks
It’s strange how England has gone from a country that used to enjoy slices of flapjack (either homemade or from the local bakery) to chain store coffee shops, selling giant plastic-wrapped chocolate muffins, which are nowhere nearly as tasty.
Everyone deserves a treat, and flapjack is a good one! It’s also pretty healthy, as flapjacks are made with heart-healthy oats, which are full of soluble fibre, to soak up ‘bad cholesterol’. We’ll just bypass the fact that flapjacks are full of wicked golden syrup!
These raspberry flapjacks (Women’s Health Mag) have a jammy raspberry centre, for something a bit fruity and different.
Avoid flapjacks for young children and people with swallowing difficulties. Also don’t eat them if things get stuck in your teeth (nor to pets, for obvious reasons).
Flapjacks (if you’ve never tried them or are reading from abroad) are tasty baked slices made with oats (and for here, vegan butter), sugar and syrup, sometimes with added fruits and chocolate. You can get ‘energy bars’ that are similar, but to honest, they don’t taste the same as a traditional slice, made with Lyle’s golden syrup.
They’re quite firm, so great when sliced for portable snacks and picnics, and high in calories, so good for hikers and athletes.
We don’t know how old flapjacks are, but since Shakespeare once mentioned them in a play, they are pretty old! The name apparently comes from ‘flap’ (to flip or toss’) and jack ‘(a small item or even man!) They became more popular in the 1930s, a few decades after Lyle’s golden syrup went on sale.
Always leave flapjacks to cool in the tin (cut them into squares first) before removing them. Also they can be very hot inside, so leave to cool before eating.
The History of Lyle’s Golden Syrup
Traditional flapjacks are made with golden syrup (health shops do sell organic versions, but realistically you’re going to be using Lyle’s Golden Syrup, the main easy-to-find brand.
Known for its iconic green and gold tin featuring Samson’s lion and bees (a Biblical reference), this was first sold in 1881 by a Scottish businessman, as a by-product of sugar. Soon it was a staple in all British households, and even Captain Scott took tins on his Antarctic expedition, as they were found intact decades later.
The lion logo was the world’s oldest unchanged brand packaging, but the image of a dead lion (to symbolise the story of Samson in the Old Testament, where he found bees and honey in a lion’s carcass he had killed) obviously does not sit well in today’s world, so it was recently changed.
The idea from the founder was that something good (sweetness) can emerge from hardship. But in modern times, we don’t want any lions killed, so today the logo is a simple lion’s head and a single bee.
Healthier Flapjacks (Lazy Cat Kitchen) replace the vegan butter with peanut butter, and replace some fat with mashed bananas, then drizzle with chocolate (or not).
Just Wholefoods Organic Flapjack Mix
Just Wholefoods Organic Flapjack Mix is free from butter and palm oil, made with heart-healthy oats and sweet raisins, along with sunflower seeds, dates and sweetened with coconut blossom sugar. Just add 11g of oil or vegan butter (Flora has no palm oil) and 2 tablespoons of maple or golden syrup. Mix and bake. 1 box makes 12 servings.
Just Wholefoods is a small artisan food company that create lovely plant-based mixes, to create your favourite teatime treats, made with kind ingredients and lots of love, from the Cotswolds.
You can recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not recycle.
