OATY BARS RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Lightly grease a 33x23cm/13x9in baking tray that is about 3cm/1in deep. Line with cling film.
• Put the oats and almonds in a food processor and blend for 10–20 seconds, until fairly well broken down (you want some texture, but it should be slightly powdery). Tip into a large bowl then add the seeds, cranberries and rice pops and stir really well.
• Heat the agave syrup, peanut butter and honey in a small saucepan over a medium heat until melted. Stir, then pour this over the oat mixture and mix well with a spoon, until cooled slightly. Mix with your hands to make sure all the oats are coated.
• Tip into the tin and spread out evenly. Lay a sheet of cling film over the top, then press down firmly to squash the mixture flat. Leave in the freezer for 1 hour until set.
• Remove the top layer of cling film, then tip out onto a board, remove the remaining cling film and cut into 24 bars.
• To keep, layer them up between sheets of greaseproof paper and store in a sealed box in the fridge. They can also be kept in the freezer.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 160ºC fan/gas 4. In a large pan, melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a low-medium heat. Once melted, take the pan off the heat and stir in the oats until completely coated with the butter mixture. Spoon into the tin, then smooth the surface with the back of your spoon to level.
• Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin. After 5-10 minutes, cut into even squares, then leave to cool completely in the tin. If you don’t remember to cut the squares before they cool, don’t worry, they’re still soft enough to cut later – they just might be slightly more crumbly around the edges.
• To make chocolate flapjacks, melt 150-200g milk, dark, white (or a combination of milk and dark) chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, or in the microwave on medium for short 10-15 second bursts. Once melted, spoon the chocolate over the cut, cooled flapjack. Leave to set, then cut again.
• To make banana flapjacks, mash 2 ripe bananas and add with the oats in step 1. If you’d like a savoury twist, sprinkle over sesame seeds before baking or stir in 1 tsp white miso with the golden syrup.
• For cranberry, pistachio and almond flapjacks, add 80g dried cranberries and 50g each pistachio and whole almonds with the oats.