never judge a recipe by its obscurity

How do you tell if a recipe had preempted your doubts concomitant of worries over a lack of ingredients, a foray into a new palate teaser, and a hurried last minute baking?

Let me count the ways.

It’s when you notice the ever elusive-sounding ‘golden syrup‘ listed as one of the ingredients, and decide to simply wing it, and hope that the extra molasses in your wrongly-purchased pack of dark brown sugar will do the trick of binding.

Pre-bake thought: It’s okay if it crumbles badly, or looks totally unappealing. So long as it tastes good, no one will notice. Or better still, just crumble it all up into a bowl with vanilla ice-cream. That ought to do the trick!

Post-bake thought: It works! Beautiful cuts, clean edges, perfect little soft and chewy morsels of oaty squares.

It’s when you have one ripe banana sitting by the counter, yearning for attention, only to be ignored for days, over an adamant refusal to bind them in a loaf pan within an hour, served for breakfast and tea the next day. The result? A random finger-trail down the index page of a gem of a book loaned from the library, landing you on an unassumingly-titled ‘banana flapjacks’.

Pre-bake thought: Something new to try out with bananas. Well, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll know better to stick to a favourite banana bread recipe.

Post-bake thought: Banana flapjacks, where have you been all this while!!!

It’s when you’re suddenly hit by a hunger pang, or something more like a peckish pang, and just need something to munch on as quickly as possible. And you don’t wish to go the whole hog of muffins/cakes, because somehow you’re craving for something less cloying, less rich, less dense, less buttery, and yet oh so filling and tempting.

Pre-bake thought: Just a little munch to satiate the peckish feeling. I’ll take one, and pack the rest up for the family tomorrow.

Post-bake thought:

Banana Flapjacks
(adapted from Sue Lawrence’s Book of Baking)

125g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (I omitted this)
85g light muscavado/brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
350g porridge oats
2 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly butter a baking sheet, 9” x 13” (I used a 9-inch square pan).
2. Gently melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large saucepan.
3. Once melted, stir in the porridge oats until completely combined.
4. Stir in the mashed banana and turn out the mixture into the greased sheet. Press down firmly.
5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the flapjacks are starting to brown around the edges and the middle feels firm to the touch. They will firm up as they cool, so leave in the baking sheet before cutting and removing. Cut into 2-3” squares.

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