Gluten Free Flapjacks

These gluten free flapjacks are so easy to make, with just 3 basic ingredients. They are soft and slightly chewy, and totally moreish. Enjoy the basic recipe, or add in dried fruits, nuts and seeds as you prefer.

What's so good about these gluten free flapjacks

• Easy. This gluten free flapjack recipe with honey is very quick and easy. You'll just need 3 everyday ingredients, one pan and a baking tray. It takes just 10 minutes to make the flapjack mixture, and 20 minutes to bake them. Your flapjacks will be cooling on the side in just half an hour.
• Adaptable. The basic recipe tastes delicious, but you can also adapt it to suit your taste with add ins. Dried fruits, chocolate chips, nuts, seeds and spices all make a great addition. You could also switch out the honey for maple syrup or golden syrup if you prefer. And if you want vegan flapjacks, use coconut oil instead of butter, or a vegan block.
• Healthier. This flapjack recipe is also a healthier choice than so many other treats and snacks. Oats are high in fibre, which means that they'll keep you fuller for longer, and are good for your digestive system. They are also rich in a particular type of soluble fibre called beta glucan which is good for heart health.
• This recipe tastes like 'proper' flapjack, but it is slightly lower in sugar and fat than many bought flapjacks. It also uses honey rather than refined sugar. If you want a recipe that is even healthier, try these healthy apple flapjacks, which use applesauce to replace the most of the butter and sugar. These healthy banana flapjacks are also very low in added sugar and fat.

Ingredients

Oats. Importantly, make sure that your oats state that they are gluten free on the packaging. Although they are naturally gluten free, oats can become contaminated with gluten from other grains when they are processed. Gluten free oats will have been processed separately to ensure that they are uncontaminated. You'll need rolled or porridge oats so that your flapjacks have a good texture. Instant oats will be too powdery, and steel cut oats will remain too hard.

Honey. I use runny honey in the recipe, but a set honey would also work as it will melt in the cooking process. I prefer to make these flapjacks without syrup as honey is a little less processed, but you could also use golden syrup if you prefer, or maple syrup.

Butter. Butter adds a lovely flavour to these gluten free flapjacks. Either salted or unsalted will be fine. If you'd prefer a vegan flapjack recipe, use either a vegan block or coconut oil. If you'd prefer a lower fat recipe, these healthy flapjacks are also gluten free.

Optional ingredients

These simple flapjacks are yummy with just oats, butter and honey, but you can also add in extra flavours and ingredients if you want:

• Dried fruit. I like the addition of sultanas, but you could use other dried fruits such as chopped dried apricots, dried blueberries, or cranberries. Use about 30-40 g of dried fruit.
• Nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds add a nice texture in a flapjack. If you're using large nuts, chop them into smallish pieces. You'll need about 25 g for this quantity of mixture.
• Spices. Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon goes really well in this recipe, but you could also use ground mixed spice, cardamom or ground ginger.
• Chocolate. Little chips of dark chocolate are always a good way to make these gluten free flapjacks a firm favourite. Chop about 30 g of dark chocolate into small pieces, and add to the mixture just before you put it in the tray. If you prefer, you could use ready made chocolate chips instead.

Suggested flapjack flavours:

• Pecan and honey
• Maple and walnut (depending on how strong you want the maple flavour use either all maple syrup or half honey half maple)
• Sultana and sunflower seed
• Apricot and almond
• Ginger and dark chocolate (add a few finely chopped pieces of stem ginger)
• Dried cranberry and dark chocolate adds a festive twist if you want a Christmas flapjack recipe

How to make gluten free flapjacks

Add the butter and honey to a saucepan and place on a low heat. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat. It's important not to let the mixture boil, as it will start to turn into toffee!

Add the oats and any other optional ingredients that you are using, and stir together until well mixed.

Place the mixture in a lined baking tin, and press down firmly with the back of a spoon into the corners of the tin. Bake at 160 degrees for 20 minutes. After that time the flapjack will be lightly golden, and still soft to the touch. The flapjacks will harden a little as they cool, but the end result will still be slightly soft and chewy. If you'd prefer a crisper texture, cook them for up to 10 minutes longer but take care that they do not go too dark.

For this quantity of mixture, I use a tin which is about 21 cm long and 11 cm wide. Of course, you could easily double the quantity of mixture and use a 21 cm square tin. Place a piece of greased baking paper in the tin so that you can easily remove the flapjacks.

Mark the flapjacks into squares or bars whilst they are still warm in the tin. Then leave to cool completely before removing and cutting into pieces.

This quantity of mixture will make 6 flapjacks. If you'd prefer to make bite-sized flapjacks, cut them in half again.

Frequently asked questions

Other gluten free bakes you might enjoy

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a rating and/or comment at the bottom of the page. Your feedback and questions are much appreciated.
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