Flopjacks

I was talking to my sister recently and she was telling me about a cooking course she did. She said that when they all arrived for the course the instructor had made lemonade and flapjacks as a welcome treat. Everyone raved so much about them that she gave them the recipe. My sister said the recipe was so simple that even her nine year old son liked to make them of a Sunday. The ingredients and instructions were so basic that she was able to send them to me as a text message on my phone.

Now the first bit of confusion occurred when I thought she was sending me the recipe for little pancakes which are called flapjacks here in Australia. But it turns out there are Scottish flapjacks too (called Anzac biscuits here).

I was up early on Saturday morning and thought that J might enjoy the aroma of baking coming from the kitchen. I had all the ingredients so I whipped up the first batch of flapjacks. They looked and smelled absolutely delicious. I left them to cool and then took a picture in the morning sunlight. Then it was tasting time - they were dreadful. What had I done wrong. In hindsight I can't believe I made such a simple mistake. I'm going to blame it on the early morning. In my sisters text message she listed all the ingredients and the instructions were to mix it all together and bake for 20 minutes. What I didn't do was dissolve the sugar in the butter first. My flapjacks had horrible lumps of crystallised sugar throughout.

Not to be flummoxed by a recipe that my nine year old nephew can whip together, I set about making my second batch of flapjacks. At this stage I had used all my sugar and so I dug out a bag of dark brown sugar. How different can they be? Very, apparently, because this second batch were flopjacks- they burnt. I was still tempted to eat them after using all the ingredients.

When I asked J should I try again he said "Of course. You never give up". Who would have thought it would take three attempts. This time I had to go get supplies. The third batch were excellent, thank god. I don't think I could have faced making them again. I consulted the guru Delia and got the following

Flapjacks

4 oz (110 g) light brown soft sugar
6 oz (175 g) butter
1 dessertspoon golden syrup
6 oz (175 g) porridge oats
a few drops of almond essence

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C).
   You will also need a 7½ inch (19 cm) square baking tin, 1½ inches (4 cm) deep, lightly greased.
2. To start, place the sugar, butter and golden syrup together in a medium saucepan and heat until the butter has melted. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the porridge oats and a few drops of almond essence.
3. Now, press the mixture out over the base of the prepared tin, and bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before cutting into oblong bars. Leave until cold before removing the flapjacks from the tin, then store in an airtight container.
   

I picked up some organic lemons and oranges to try out the lemonade. I don't think my sister will mind but I had to slightly change the quantities of the ingredients as there was too much sugar in it for me.

Lemonade

3 oz Sugar
4 oranges
3 lemons
1 pint (600 ml) cold water
Boil for 2 mins. Cool. Store. Add fruit when serving.