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| My take on a healthy flapjack recipe (sort of) |
OK so you're looking for a healthy flapjack recipe? Why do people always think flapjacks are a 'healthy' snack? OK so they have dried fruit, nuts and oats for fiber but they also have a shed load of sugar and fat. I've tried various ways over the years to make 'healthified' versions of the humble flapjack. Mainly because I liked to have them for breakfast. What could be healthier than an all natural energy packed bar of goodness for breakfast right?
Wrong!
Well for me anyway.
I have realised at long last that eating anything sweet for breakfast is doing me no good whatsoever. For one reason, anything sweet will have a very high carb to protein ratio. As someone who is always hungry and really enjoys eating, I find that carb filled breakfasts don't keep me feeling full for long enough. Add to that the fact that sugar causes massive insulin spike followed by an insulin low. This means that if i have something sweet and carb laden first thing in the morning, by mid morning I'm hungry and craving more sugar.
That's not to say that everyone is like this. I know plenty of my friends who can happily eat toast with jam in the morning and then not think about food again until 1pm. That isn't and will never be me.
I now find that, although I am still constantly thinking about food, if I eat a mainly protein based breakfast (now I'm in New Zealand this quite often involves some form of eggs and avocado as they are in season here) and stay away from the refined sugar first thing, I find it easier to control my eating (read not eat my own body weight in biscuits/ cake/ chocolate and finishing the day in a sugary coma vowing to never do this to myself again).
Now I'm not saying there isn't a time or a place for cake (obviously!!!) but just that for me, that time isn't breakfast time, and that includes flapjack.
Lets face it, flapjack counts as a cake. You can call it a granola bar or an oat and seed bar or whatever you like but it is, and should be treated like a cake. To be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee and savored.
Back to my earlier attempts at 'healthy' flapjack, well they never seemed to work anyway. Without enough fat and sugar, they just don't hold together well. My 'healthier' attempts made with different combinations of coconut oil, honey, peanut butter, agave nectar, mashed banana, always crumbled when i tried to cut them, and although they tasted nice, they weren't so much lower in calories to warrant the difference in taste in forgoing butter and lots of sugar.
So here is my compromise. These are sweetened only by honey, mainly because I like the taste but also because I like using natural ingredients wherever possible. Please don't be under any illusions that these bars will help you to loose weight but they are full of wholesome ingredients and they taste delicious! As far as cakes go, they are pretty good!
You could sub the butter for coconut oil and they should stay together OK but I wouldn't recommend it as you will miss the buttery flavour. Half butter half coconut oil might be nice. You could also sub the honey for golden syrup but then you would have even less reasons to try and kid yourself that they are good for you. You can't really identify the peanut butter but it adds a lovely rich nutty fudgyness. (Fudgyness wasn't a word before apparently but it is now in my world at least as I've just added it to my dictionary).
Ingredients:
200g salted butter
200g set honey
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 and a half cups oats (quick cook, gluten free or regular but not steel cut)
half cup almonds
half cup sultanas
Method
Melt butter, honey and peanut butter in a large saucepan until fully melted and combined. Let the mixture bubble for a minute or two, then take off the heat.
Add oats, fruit and nuts to the pan and stir until combined. tip into a greased and lined standard brownie tin and bake at 180 degrees (fan) for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. This way it will be cooked but still soft and chewy in the middle. Check how it looks after 20 minutes as if you overcook it, it will be dry and crumbly.
Feel free to enjoy this "healthy" flapjack recipe for breakfast if you can handle it, or if you're like me and can't, enjoy it in the afternoon with a lovely cup of tea of coffee.
Enjoy xxx
Labels: cakes, healthy, wholesome
