Chewy Brown-Butter Golden Syrup Flapjacks

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The British tea-shop oat bar, done properly: rolled oats bound in a caramel of brown butter, dark brown sugar and golden syrup, pressed hard into the tin so the bars slice clean and stay chewy at the center with lacy, toffee-crisp edges. One pan, one saucepan, no mixer — and they travel better than any granola bar you can buy.

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups unsalted butter (250 g / 2 sticks + 2 tbsp)
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar (200 g)
• 1/2 cup golden syrup (175 g)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (400 g)
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (45 g), or 1/2 cup rolled oats pulsed in a blender

• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8x8-inch or 9x9-inch metal baking pan with parchment, letting two sides overhang by an inch so you can lift the slab out later. Lightly butter the parchment.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (at least 3 quarts) over medium heat. Keep cooking, swirling often, for 5 to 7 minutes: it will foam, then quiet down, and the milk solids at the bottom will turn hazelnut brown and smell toasty. Pull it off the heat the moment it smells nutty — browned butter is what separates these from a flat, sugary bar.
3. Add the brown sugar, golden syrup and fine sea salt to the hot butter. Return to medium-low heat and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, just until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is glossy and smooth. Do not let it boil hard — you want a syrup, not caramel. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
4. Dump in both the rolled oats and the quick oats. Stir with a sturdy spatula for a full minute, scraping the bottom, until every oat is coated and the mixture looks like wet, glistening sand. The fine oats are the trick: they absorb syrup and glue the bars together.
5. Scrape the mixture into the lined pan. Press it down hard and evenly with the flat bottom of a measuring cup or a small glass, working from the center out to the corners, until the surface is compact and level. Press firmly — loosely packed flapjacks crumble when you cut them.
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes for a 9x9 pan, or 28 to 33 minutes for an 8x8, until the edges are deep golden and bubbling and the center is a shade paler and still looks soft. The middle will feel underdone; that is exactly right for chewy bars.
7. If using, scatter the flaky salt over the hot surface right away. For a chocolate top, wait 3 minutes, scatter the chopped chocolate over, let it sit 4 minutes until it slumps, then spread thin with the back of a spoon.
8. Set the pan on a rack and cool completely in the pan, at least 2 hours — the syrup has to set or the bars will fall apart. To speed it up, cool 45 minutes at room temperature then 30 minutes in the fridge.
9. Lift the slab out by the parchment onto a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares or 20 fingers with a long, sharp knife, pressing straight down rather than sawing. Wipe the blade between cuts if it drags.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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