Traditional Scottish Teatime Flapjacks

A biscuit tin filled with flapjack pieces, Scottish teatime small book to side, lilac teapot in background with vintage tea cup, saucer and spoon.

Course: Afternoon tea, Breakfast, Brunch, Party, picnic, Snack

Cuisine: British, Scottish

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 17

Total Time: 32

Servings: -18 slices [depending on what size you prefer large, medium, or bitesize!]

Calories: 240kcal

Author: Jacq

These deliciously quick Traditional Scottish Teatime Flapjacks are the perfect tasty home-baked treat, packed with budget-friendly, everyday pantry ingredients that happen to be dairy-free and vegan too!

Flapjacks have been a family favourite home-baked treat for many years and its buttery, sweet, syrupy, oaty, crumbly, soft and chewy insides, crispy edges, sticky, flavours and textures never get old!

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Baking tin, brownie pan, or similar about [31cm x 20 x 4 cm] or [12 inch x 7 inch x 1-2 inch] lined with parchment paper if necessary
Small saucepan for melting ingredients
mixing spoon
Mixing bowl
sharp knife for scoring flapjacks into pieces

Ingredients

228 grams rolled oats [porridge oats]
115 grams margarine use whatever cooking fat, spread, butter, or block you normally use for baking, we used Stork
85 grams granulated sugar
45 grams golden syrup [2 tablespoons]

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160 Fan, 180C, 350 Fahrenheit, Gas 4.
Grease the baking tin with some margarine, and then line the tin with parchment or baking paper.
[If you use a piece of parchment larger than your baking tin so that it overlaps the sides, it can be used to easily lift out the flapjacks from the tin once they have baked and cooled.]
Add the margarine, golden syrup, and sugar to a small saucepan, and over a low heat gently melt all the ingredients together, stirring frequently, and making sure that it does not boil.
115 grams margarine, 85 grams granulated sugar, 45 grams golden syrup
Add the oats to a mixing bowl, and pour in the melted mixture. Give it all a good stir.
228 grams rolled oats
Scoop the mixture into the prepared baking tin and press it down firmly and evenly. Make sure that the edges are pressed firmly down as well.
Bake for 17-18 minutes on the middle shelf until the flapjacks are lightly golden brown and look set. They will still be soft but they will firm up more as they cool, and the edges will look darker than the middle area.
If your flapjacks are a little pale and they have a wobble [just shake the pan back and forth and see if the middle part is too wobbly] then bake for a few more minutes.
If you prefer a crisper flapjack cook for 20 minutes as then the edges will become more crispy and crunchy almost biscuit like. Baking for less time will result in a softer more traditional flapjack.
We used an electric oven and our flapjacks were ready after 17 minutes at 180C. For Fan ovens check the flapjacks at 15 minutes and see how they are going as fan ovens tend to bake faster.
Exact baking times depend on your oven so do keep a close eye on the flapjacks, as they bake, as then you'll discover the exact times for your perfect flapjacks.
Once baked, leave the flapjacks in the pan for a minute or two, just to settle as they will be boiling hot when just out of the oven, before gently scoring with a sharp knife into pieces.*
When scoring [cutting the flapjacks into slices] press the knife right down to the bottom of the tin].
Leave the flapjacks to cool completely in the pan. Once cool remove the flapjacks by using the parchment paper to help lift out all the flapjacks at once.
Once removed the pieces can be pulled apart or use a sharp knife to break the pieces along your score lines.
* We scored 9 large flapjack pieces but you could get 12 smaller or 18 bite-size pieces of flapjack. If you'd like smaller pieces perhaps initially score into 9 and then leave to cool in the pan, before removing the flapjacks and slicing each firmer piece into more slices with a sharp knife. This way your pieces will be cleaner cuts.*

Notes

Nutritional data is for guidance only and is not intended to be an exact analysis as ingredients can vary.
Data is for 9 large flapjacks. For 12 flapjacks: 180Calories, 23g carbs, 3g protein, 9g fat, and 10g sugar. And for 18 small flapjacks: 120 calories, 15g carbs, 2g protein, 6g fat, and 7g sugar.
Store flapjacks within an air-tight container, for up to 5 days, somewhere cool and dry. Lining the container with a piece of scrunched up parchment or baking paper is a good idea as the base of flapjacks can be a little sticky, and if stacking the flapjacks a piece of parchment between each layer can be added.
Or freeze, well wrapped, for up to 3 months.
Stork baking margarine was used for our flapjacks.
Golden syrup provides the classic flapjack flavour but it can be replaced with maple syrup, agave syrup, date syrup, brown rice syrup, or corn syrup.
Porridge oats, rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats are best for flapjacks.
If using US old-fashioned oats and the flakes are quite large, they can be pulsed for a few seconds in a food processor. However, some people prefer the texture of larger oat flakes, which includes jumbo oats, for their flapjacks.
If liked, add a teaspoon of vanilla essence or extract, but its not essential as traditional recipes usually do not contain it.
If you accidently overbake your flapjacks and they are too crunchy, simply dunk the edges into a nice cup of hot tea and they will soften up nicely!
For a chocolate top layer, grate a bar of vegan-friendly chocolate over the top of the flapjacks as soon as they come out of the oven, as the heat will melt the chocolate.
For an easy chocolate chip flapjack check out our recipe for Classic Chocolate Flapjacks.

Nutrition