You would think that something as simple as syrup flapjacks would have a pretty standard recipe you could turn to, then adapt to whatever flavour you want.

Apparently not.

After the best part of an hour researching recipes I can’t work out any rhyme or reason to recipes. The ratios of butter/syrup/sugar/oats are all over the place, and any reference to crispy vs chewy is just in baking time and temperature.

Some recipes have just a couple of tablespoons of syrup: I want more than that. Some recipes don’t have any sugar: but I want some brown sugar to give some flavour. Sometimes the ratio of butter to syrup/sugar is 1:1, sometimes it’s 1:2 (or 1:1:1 butter/sugar/syrup).

So I’ve decided to go with:

• 250g butter, melted
• 150g dark brown sugar
• 200g golden syrup
• 500g oats
• 100g dark choc chips
• Couple of handfuls of frozen garden raspberries

As for cooking time and temperature: it goes from 50 minutes at 130C fan, to 20 minutes at 180C fan. I want them on the chewy side, but not taking an hour to cook, so I’m starting with 30 minutes at 160C fan and seeing what they look like.

Yeah maybe kinda cooked… but probably a bit chewy (OK soggy) even by my standards, so in for another 10 minutes.

Hmmm… looks OK. Still feels a little cakey. Have decided I need jumbo oats for next one.

It’s delicious! But it is soggy. More time in the oven next time. And jumbo oats.