When Is an Oat Not An Oat? (for flapjacks/cereal bars)

PasturesNew

So, there I was, in the oats aisle for the second time, wanting to make cereal bars/flapjacks.

But there are lots of things there and I spent 20 minutes reading all the bags and thinking about "when is an oat not an oat".

There seem to be three sorts:
- porridge oats
- muesli
- crunchy oats, e.g. these http://www.jordanscereals.co.uk/products/cereals/crunchy-oats

And I came to the conclusion that I could only use porridge oats to make cereal bars/flapjacks. Although I did manage to find a couple that said they were porridge oats and still had things already mixed in, there seems a much bigger range if I can use other sorts too.

Am I right? Or can I use things that the box says are crunchy oats (which tend to come packaged with other items mixed in that make them sound nicer)

Thanks!

Gingernutmeg

Generally you'd just use porridge oats, they're the cheapest and the least sweet. You can use the fancy oat cereals and facny porridges to make biscuits and cereal bars but it'll work out a lot more expensive and you will have to play about with the recipes as they tend to have added sugar so you might end up with horribly sweet flapjacks that will probably burn much more easily. Muesli makes nice flapjacks though, as long as you push the raisins etc in so they don't burn. It also works well in Twinks' hobnobs.

PasturesNew

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

Generally you'd just use porridge oats, they're the cheapest and the least sweet. You can use the fancy oat cereals and facny porridges to make biscuits and cereal bars but it'll work out a lot more expensive and you will have to play about with the recipes as they tend to have added sugar so you might end up with horribly sweet flapjacks that will probably burn much more easily. Muesli makes nice flapjacks though, as long as you push the raisins etc in so they don't burn. It also works well in Twinks' hobnobs.

Thanks for that.

I am using a no-bake flapjack recipe, so burning isn't an issue. My flapjacks take about 6 minutes to make and I'm playing around with the basic recipe, reducing the sugar as I go, so it's interesting that I could just omit sugar perhaps so need to experiment with that.

Price isn't an issue I am trying to make tasty and interesting looking flapjacks/cereal bars. Tesco had the Jordan's on a special reduction yesterday (about 26p/100g I think).

I'm glad you specifically said muesli makes nice flapjacks, I'll try that at some future point.

I've just never eaten oats or porridge in my life, so suddenly being faced with a few shelves of these things was overwhelming

mardatha

I buy the cheapest porridge for that, and the Scotts stuff for breakfast .

tiff

I use value oats, 58p a kg for breakfast and making flapjacks.

geordie_joe

PasturesNew wrote: »

Thanks for that.

I am using a no-bake flapjack recipe, so burning isn't an issue.

That sounds interesting. Could you post it in here, or a link if it's from a web site?

PasturesNew

geordie_joe wrote: »

That sounds interesting. Could you post it in here, or a link if it's from a web site?

I'm working with this no-bake recipe, using a microwave:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Quick--Easy-Microwave-Flapjacks-Recipe-on-a-Budget

And they were instantly brilliant.

First time it came out lovely and soft and chewy. I added dessicated coconut and sultanas and topped them with chocolate.

Second time I reduced the golden syrup by about half and it set faster. I mixed in dessicated coconut, glace cherries, walnuts and mixed citrus peel.

The third time I thought I'd try a different shape, so I just made the basic mix and this time placed just glace cherries into the bottom of a muffin tin then squashed the flapjack mix on top - once set and turned over, these came out as brilliant cherry-topped individual flapjacks.

Now I'm ready for the fourth batch!

I live alone and am using this recipe because 4 minutes of an 800watt microwave is cheaper than having a whole oven heat up for half an hour before baking flapjacks for 20 minutes, in an oven that probably runs at several kW/hour. I only use my oven once a week max because it only has one shelf and takes so long to heat up.

rachbc

i use plain on brand oats for baking and porridge and jumbo oats to make my own granola (jordans crunch type cereal).

I too would love to try no bake flapjack if you don't mind posting the recipe

rach

Great recipe. we eat quite a lot of cereal bars and they work out about 30p+ each so these could be an alternative. I wonder if you could decrease the butter content?

PasturesNew

rach wrote: »

Great recipe. we eat quite a lot of cereal bars and they work out about 30p+ each so these could be an alternative. I wonder if you could decrease the butter content?

I've been wondering that, but I thought the amount of butter was a direct relation to the quantity you could make. So if you reduced the butter you would have to reduce the oats because that's what they're actually cooking in.

mardatha

would anybody know if I could sub honey for syrup ? I have loads of honey and no syrup !