Shetland-Style Flapjacks

Shetland Islands Coast not far from Lerwick
By Mænsard Vokser - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36251924

When I read about about flapjacks for tea in the books by Ann Cleeves (Shetland Island Mysteries), I had to look for a recipe to find out what they were. As far as I've ever known, flapjacks are cowboy-style pancakes cooked over an open fire.

These are something very different.

They are delicious! The recipe I found on Shetland Tea Recipes was measured out in grams. Luckily I had both an online metric converter for grams to ounces, and a little cooking scale. The effort to translate it all was well worth it.

Sadly, I didn't have the "jumbo-rolled oats" or golden syrup that were called for. However, regular quick oats and some vanilla syrup I had on hand made for a delicious flapjack. Authentic? I guess not, but still delicious.

Last issue: The recipe called for a Swiss roll tin; I had to look that up, too. Didn't have one, used a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. The parchment paper is a must, this is a sticky mixture.

*****

The recipe, in my words:

Mix together in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until well mixed and the butter is melted:

115 g. dark brown sugar (1/2 cup, packed)
115 g. butter (1 stick)
1 generous tbl. golden syrup (American cooks, use your imagination. Golden syrup is available in our stores, but other syrups will do nicely)

Stir in 175 g jumbo-rolled oats (2 1/3 cups). Again, regular quick rolled oats seemed to do the trick.

Press onto a parchment-lined Swiss roll tin (or a cookie sheet if your international cooking equipment supply is limited). I spread out the mixture to about 8 x 8 inches square.

Bake at 190 C/375 F for 10-15 minutes. Cut into squares very soon after removing from the oven or they'll be difficult to deal with later.

Serve with a big brown pot of tea. In a fog, with fog horns. On an island.