These healthy cherry bakewell flapjacks are delicious chewy almond oat bars with a layer of luscious cherry jam. If you're a fan of cherry and almond and are looking for a healthy portable snack, then this is the recipe for you!
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What you'll love about the recipe
- All the flavours of a cherry bakewell tart in a healthy oat flapjack topped with flaked almonds. Perfect for lunchboxes, picnics and tea time treats. Or even for brunch or breakfast!
- Quick and easy to make (no pastry and no frangipane!)
- Made with wholegrain oats, these cherry and almond oat bars are a good source of soluble fibre and heart-healthy beta glucans.
- Almonds are nutrient dense and a good source of monounsaturated fat.
- Healthy cherry bakewell flapjacks are lower in added sugar and saturated fat than many other treats.
- Gluten free (use GF oats) with vegan and dairy free options.
Ingredients
Almond butter adds a lovely richness to cherry and almond flapjacks, and is a good way to switch to a healthier fat. If you don't have almond butter, you could also use peanut butter, or if you prefer replace the almond butter with additional butter.
Butter. There's some butter in the recipe to give more of a classic cherry bakewell flavour. You can either use dairy or vegan butter. If you prefer you can replace the butter with additional almond butter.
To summarise, you can make cherry bakewell flapjacks with all almond butter, all butter or half and half as I've written in the recipe below!
Honey sweetens the flapjacks. I prefer to use non-refined sugar, and honey also adds a lovely flavour. Use maple syrup or golden syrup if you prefer, or to make vegan cherry bakewell flapjacks.
Almond extract adds extra almond flavour. Almond extract is quite potent, so you'll only need a small amount.
Oats are the basic ingredient for a British flapjack. Porridge or old fashioned oats are best as they make a good textured flapjack which holds together well and has a lovely chewiness. For gluten free cherry and almond flapjacks, make sure you use oats which are certified gluten free so they are not contaminated by other grains.
Flaked almonds. These add a lovely texture and extra flavour. If you've only got chopped almonds use those instead. You could also use ground almonds, but you won't get quite the same texture.
Cherry jam. This adds a delicious sweet cherry layer through the centre of the flapjack. I used a sugar free jam with lots of whole fruit, but you can use whatever cherry jam you prefer.
Variations
- If you'd prefer, use 100g of dried sour cherries instead of cherry jam.
- You can make healthy bakewell flapjacks with other flavours of jam. A traditional bakewell tart often has raspberry jam, so you could also use this. In fact, use whatever flavour jam is your favourite!
How to make healthy cherry bakewell flapjacks
Line a 20 x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment. Make sure the paper folds up the sides of the tin slightly so that the jam doesn't stick to the side of the tin.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade (150 fan).
Add the almond butter, butter, honey and almond extract to a pan. Place over a low heat for a few minutes and stir until melted. Remove from the heat. Don't let the mixture come to a boil, otherwise it'll start to caramelise and you'll end up with toffee!
Put aside a small handful of flaked almonds for the topping, and add the remaining almonds and oats to the honey mixture. Stir until well mixed.
Add half of the oat mixture to the lined baking tin. Spread out with a spoon and press down firmly. This is important so that these cherry bakewell flapjacks hold together well. Spread the jam evenly over the flapjack base.
Top with the remaining oats mixture. Blob the mixture over the jam and use either a spoon or your fingers to spread it out evenly. Press down firmly.
Sprinkle with the remaining flaked almonds and press them into the mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway if necessary to ensure the flapjacks brown evenly.
Leave the cherry bakewell flapjacks to cool in the tray. Remove from the tray and cut into 12 pieces.
Top tips
If you want to make half the quantity of the recipe, use a 10x20cm tin. I find a 1lb loaf tin is the right dimensions if you don't have a suitable flat baking tray.
Storage
Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Healthy cherry bakewell flapjacks can also be frozen in an airtight container or a sealed plastic bag for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.
Frequently asked questions
Cut the flapjacks when they are fully cold so that they are properly set and don't fall apart. This is especially important with flapjacks with a layer of jam through the centre as the jam will be more runny when hot.
Some flapjack recipes contain a lot of saturated fat and sugar. The supermarket flapjacks that I looked at had a red warning for saturated fat and sugar. However, you can use fruit to sweeten your flapjacks which is much healthier and use healthier fats such as almond butter. But, even healthy flapjacks should always be eaten in moderation!
Granola bars tend to be a little more crunchy in texture and have a higher proportion of add-ins such as nuts and seeds. A British flapjack is usually a little more soft and chewy, and often with a simpler ingredient list. But they are both a type of oat or muesli bar and are fairly similar!
Other healthy flapjack recipes
If you're short on time, or the weather is too hot to use the oven, why not try these easy no bake flapjacks? They are ready to eat in minutes.
And if you love oat traybakes with fruit, you might also like to try strawberry flapjacks, which have pieces of fresh strawberry in them. Or you can also make flapjacks with fresh blueberries.
Low sugar apple flapjacks sweetened with applesauce are also popular with children and are a great healthy snack for lunchboxes.
You might also like to browse this collection of 20 healthy flapjack recipes.
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Recipe
Healthy Cherry Bakewell Flapjacks
Equipment
- 20 x 20cm baking tray
- baking paper
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 50 g almond butter
- 50 g butter
- 80 g honey
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 200 g porridge oats GF if required
- 50 g flaked almonds
- 100 g cherry jam
Instructions
- Line a 20x20cm baking tray with baking paper. Allow the paper to come up the sides of the tray slightly so that the flapjacks don't stick to the sides of the tin.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade (150 fan).
- Melt the almond butter, butter, honey and almond essence in a pan over a very low heat. Remove from the heat as soon as it has melted.
- Put aside a small handful of flaked almonds for the top. Add the remaining almonds and oats to the honey mixture. Stir well to mix.
- Add half of the flapjack mixture to the lined tray. Spread out with a spoon and press down firmly with the back of a spoon or your fingers.
- Spread the jam evenly over the oat base.
- Add the remaining oat mixture and spread over the top. Press down with a spoon or your fingers.
- Sprinkle with the remaining flaked almonds.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Turn partway if necessary to ensure that they brown evenly.
- Leave to cool in the tin. When cool, remove from the tin and cut into 12 pieces.
Notes
- If you prefer, you can use all almond butter or all butter in the recipe, rather than 50g of each as written.
- Peanut butter can also be used instead of almond butter.
- Use a cherry jam which is sweetened with fruit rather than added sugar if you can get it.
- You can also use another flavour or jam if you prefer, or use 100g dried sour cherries instead of jam.
Nutrition
Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.
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