The Best Fruity Flapjacks with Golden Syrup

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Looking for a delicious and visually appealing snack? Our golden brown fruity flapjacks are the perfect solution. Oat Bars that have been made with hearty oats, dried mixed fruit, and sweet golden syrup, these fruit flapjacks provide a wholesome boost to your day. Plus, they’re incredibly simple to prepare.

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A stack of 6 fruity flapjacks in a vertical image.

Flapjacks with fruit make a quick and healthy snack or cereal bar for breakfast. The oats provide a slow release of energy, and the seeds and fruit provide some extra goodness.

Now, these dried fruit flapjacks are made with golden syrup, so they’re not the healthiest option available, but they do have a good balance of ingredients. Plus, you’ll know exactly what goes into them. Golden syrup is by far the best thing to keep the fruit and oat mixture stuck together. However, you can also make your own golden syrup substitute if you cannot find it in the local supermarket.

Fruity flapjacks are a good choice for breakfast, a snack on the go, they make the perfect lunchbox treats and are a great choice for picnics. Despite looking rather impressive, these oaty flapjacks are extremely easy to make with simple ingredients that you’ll be able to find in most supermarkets. They’re a sweet treat with a fruity twist that the whole family will enjoy.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Fruity Flapjacks

Suitable for Beginner Bakers – They’re easy to make and so satisfying to eat with all their fruity goodness.

Freezer Friendly – Fruity flapjacks freeze well for 2-3 months.

Versatile – You can play with the recipe and only add the dried fruit, nuts and seeds that you like.

Sliced flapjacks on a chopping board with a hand holding one up to the camera.

Equipment Needed

Making Fruity Flapjacks is quite a simple process that doesn’t need too much equipment. You will need:

A Saucepan of Medium Size to melt the butter with the sugar and golden syrup.
A Large Spoon or Spatula for mixing and transferring the ingredients.
A Large Mixing Bowl for mixing all of the flapjack ingredients together.
A 20x25cm (8×10 inch) Rectangle or 23x23cm (9x9inch) Square Baking Tin/Square Cake Tin to shape and bake the flapjacks in the oven.
Parchment Paper/Non Stick Baking Paper to line the tin. This prevents the mixture from sticking inside the square tin and helps when you want to lift it out.
A Sharp Knife to slice the fruit flapjacks into portions.

Ingredients

Oats – Use Porridge Oats, also known as quick oats for the chewiest texture that holds together. Using Jumbo oats will change the texture and you may find that the flapjacks fall apart when you slice them.
Soft Light Brown Sugar – We use this type of soft brown sugar to give the flapjacks a treacle flavouring. We recommend sticking to this type of sugar, but you can use caster sugar if you’d prefer. However, the outcome of the flavour will be slightly different.
Butter – Use unsalted butter in this recipe as it is a sweet recipe requiring no salt. If you want to make these fruity flapjacks vegan, swap out the butter for a plant based alternative.
Golden Syrup – This sweet syrup is the glue that holds everything together. If you cannot find golden syrup, try making your own with our golden syrup substitute recipe. Alternatively, you can use honey or maple syrup but be aware that the resulting flavour and texture may differ to this recipe.
Dried Apricots – Use dried apricots only, fresh apricots contain too much liquid and will alter the consistency in the flapjacks. You can leave the apricots out or replace with a different type of dried fruit if you’d prefer.
Pumpkin Seeds – These add a little crunch as well as extra nutrition to these flapjacks. You can leave them out if you’d prefer or replace them with a different type of seed or nut.
Dried Mixed Berries and Raisins – A mixture of dried berries and raisins gives our flapjacks a jewelled effect. You can use any type of dried fruit you want or stick to one kind if you’d prefer. We have used a mixture of cranberries, cherries, goji berries, and raisins. Just be sure that none of the fruit is larger than a raisin in size. Chop them up into smaller pieces if necessary.

What Types of Fruit and Seeds Can I Add To A Fruit Flapjack?

While we have listed our favourite fruits and seeds to add to this fruit flapjack recipe, you can also try the following:

Raisins/Sultanas – Both go really well in fruity flapjacks and are easy to come by.
Sunflower Seeds – You can halve the amount of pumpkin seeds and add these together or just replace them completely. Both give a little crunch throughout the chewy texture.
Goji Berries – They are full of goodness, making a colourful and healthy addition.
Dried Figs – These will work but will need chopping into smaller pieces in the same way that the dried apricots are.
Dried Cranberries – These add a little tart flavour throughout the flapjack with contrasts with the sweetness very well.
Dried Cherries – They give the flapjacks a pretty red dotting throughout.
Dried Raspberries or Strawberries – You can add them to the mixture and give them that intense berry flavour throughout. Just make sure the pieces are no bigger than a raisin.
Cashews, walnuts, peanuts or brazil nuts – If you omit some of the other ingredients you can make these nutty flapjacks. Just be sure to chop them up before adding.

While we encourage you to be varied with your own dried fruit flapjacks, we recommend trying to stick as closely to the measurements of the added ingredients for the best results. If you add too many the flapjacks will fall apart.

Step-By-Step How To Make Fruity Flapjacks

A hand is pouring golden syrup into a saucepan that contains sugar and butter.

A hand is mixing the dried fruit and seeds into the porridge oats in a white bowl.

Step 1: Preparing the Mixture

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
In a saucepan, melt the sugar, butter, and syrup together over low heat, stirring continuously.
Roughly chop the apricots into small pieces and place them in a large bowl.
Add the oats, mixed berries, raisins, and pumpkin seeds (or other fruit and seeds of choice) to the bowl and stir to combine.

A hand is tipping the melted ingredients in with the dry ingredients.

A hand is using a light blue spatula to mix the fruit flapjack ingredients together in a white bowl.

Pour in the melted ingredients and mix everything together until the dry ingredients are evenly coated.

The fruit flapjack mixture is being tipped into a lined baking tray.

A hand is pressing the flapjack mixture down into the baking tin.

Step 2: Baking the Flapjacks

Line a 20x25cm (8×10 inch) baking tin with baking paper, leaving some overhang for easy removal.
Press the mixture down firmly and evenly in the prepared tin using a spoon or spatula to remove air pockets.
Place the flapjacks in the centre of the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Step 3: Cooling and Serving

Once baked, remove the tin from the oven and let the mixture cool completely in the tin. It will harden as it cools.
Once set, lift the flapjacks from the tin using the overhanging paper and slice them with a sharp knife.
Store the flapjacks according to your preferred method or serve immediately.

Flapjacks Vs Granola Bars

Flapjacks are a traditional sweet British snack, while granola bars are a more modern invention.

Both are a type of sweet baked bar but what sets them apart? Though their ingredients may overlap, the texture is what makes them different. A Granola bar tends to be crunchy, while flapjacks are dense and chewy in texture.

Both Flapjacks and Granola bars often contain oats. Flapjacks come in a variety of flavours and added ingredients. Granola bars usually contain dried fruit, nuts and mixed seeds.

In this fruity flapjack recipe, we’ve added fruit and pumpkin seeds to the mixture, blurring the line between the two categories. However, due to their chewy texture, they still fall under the flapjack category.

A front view of sliced flapjacks laid out in a random way.

FAQ

Can I Use Frozen Fruit in a Flapjack?

We don’t recommend using frozen fruit in flapjacks. When baked, the fruit will release too much liquid and cause the flapjacks to become soggy. Stick to dried and dehydrated fruits only.

Can I use Fresh Fruit in this recipe?

Like frozen fruit, fresh fruit contains too much liquid and will cause the outcome to be far too soggy to hold together.

When should you cut flapjacks?

Wait until the flapjack has completely cooled before slicing, other you will find that they may fall apart.

Why is my flapjack not chewy?

This could be down to adding too many extra ingredients in too much quantity. Overbaking them can also cause them to become too hard and no longer chewy in texture. Always stick to the recommended baking time for best results.

Can you make flapjacks with jumbo oats?

It is possible but the texture of a flapjack made with jumbo oats will be much more crumbly and you may find the flapjacks simply fall apart. Especially if you are also adding other ingredients into the mix.

Pro Tips and Guidance

Slice the flapjacks when cooled – Trying to slice them up too soon will result in crumbly flapjacks that fall apart.

They will be soft when they leave the oven – This doesn’t mean that they need extra baking time, they will harden as they cool.

You can add different types of dried mixed fruit, seeds or nuts – Just stick to similar quantities as we have added here. See our section on ideas for the types of fruit, nuts and seeds you can add to your own flapjacks.

Be sure to press the mixture down firmly – This will help the flapjacks hold together when you slice them up.

Keep the extra ingredients small in size – Any larger pieces of fruit or nuts will need to be chopped into small pieces, no bigger than raisin size. Otherwise, it will affect the texture and it may prove difficult to hold the flapjacks together.