Jewelled Amaretto flapjack recipe plus a review of Thomas J. Fudge's Remarkable Bakery flapjacks.

I like flapjacks. They feel like they might be sort of healthy what with the oats and occasionally fruity ingredients whilst of course actually just being a lovely sticky treat which cheers up the dullest of days.

Even the name is jolly and with just a couple of store cupboard ingredients you can whip some up for visitors in under half an hour. Or you could open the store cupboard and bring out some top-notch commercial flapjacks like these Wonderful White Chocolate flapjacks from Thomas J Fudge's Remarkable Bakery.

Let's start with those shall we?

I tried out these limited edition flapjacks which are basically a super scrumptious oaty bake with orange zest and a smattering of tasty cranberries.


As if that doesn't sound delicious enough each square flapjack is hand dipped in white chocolate. Yes - they are as lovely as they look/sound.


I was challenged by the team at Thomas J Fudge's bakery to make my own limited edition flapjack - well since the last time I made them was quite a few years ago any flapjack I make is quite limited edition!

My mum suggested a delicious sounding recipe with mincemeat but have you any idea how hard it is to buy jars of mincemeat in late February?  Yes I know, I could make my own but *looks around wildly trying to think of a legitimate excuse and fails* I'm fundamentally quite lazy. I have seven kids you know! Doesn't leave much time for making mincemeat from scratch.

Then whilst queuing at the supermarket, that cheap German one, I spotted a 150g bag of what they named "fruit sprinkle" which is designed to be chucked over cereal, stirred into yoghurt or just inhaled as a fruity snack.


What struck me was the beautiful jewel colours created by the dried cranberries, blueberries, green raisins, cherries and golden raisins.

Once home I emptied them into a bowl and soaked them with about 1tbsp amaretto (which has a lovely almondy smell and taste) for about an hour. Trust me - everything is better with amaretto.

Then I made a basic flapjack mix.


Ingredients:

175g oats
2 tbsp golden syrup
50g light brown sugar
75g butter
150g dried fruit
1tbsp amaretto liqueur.

Method:

Grease and line a 7 inch square or round tin

Melt together butter, sugar and syrup (about 40 seconds in 800 w microwave)
then blend in a bowl with oats and fruit including the small amount of liquid left in the bowl the fruit soaked in.

Turn mix into tin and press down well. I mean, really well!

Bake at 180C (350F) gas mark 4 for 20-30 mins until golden brown.

Cool slightly in tin, mark out slices or fingers and loosen round the edges.
When firm cool on a wire rack.


I neglected to line my tin and left the flapjacks cooling too long so mine got a little bit stuck onto the tin. They still taste awesome but weren't very pretty so I decided to crumble pieces up into the bottom of a glass, top with vanilla yoghurt and top with a crumbled amaratto biscuit and serve as a nice pud.


If you want to avoid the risk of serving de-constructed flapjack ( I knew there was a reason I hadn't made them for years) I'd just head to the store and treat yourself to some lovely complete ones from Thomas J Fudge's Remarkable Bakery.

Disclaimer: I was gifted one box of Wonderful White Chocolate Flapjacks for the purposes of this review. Views and opinions remain honest and my own.