Two Spoonfuls: Sweet Treats

When I first went over to live in England, I was given the pleasure of eating a delicious thing called a flapjack. For my American friends, no, they aren't pancakes. They're sort of like sweet and somewhat gooey granola bars. Truly yummy. I got a recipe from Nick's mum and here's how it went...

First off, the recipe:

Flapjacks
1 1/2 Sticks Butter
1/2 cup + 2 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs. Karo Brown Sugar Corn Syrup [or Golden Syrup (UK) or Honey]
2 1/4 cups quick oats

Preheat oven to 350F (180c, Gas Mark 4)
1. Heat butter, sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan on low heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat and add oats. Mix well.
2. Spread evenly in a greased 8x8" or 9x9" (20x20cm) baking pan.
3. Bake 20-25 minutes until just golden at the edges.
4. Let cool for about 10 minutes, cut into bars in pan. Cool completely before removing from pan. Cut again with sharp knife as needed.

In the UK, Flapjacks are generally made with a product called "Golden Syrup". According to Wikipedia, golden syrup is a thick, amber-colored form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. I happen to have some in my house because I live with an Englishman. In order to make things easier on you, I made my flapjacks with Corn Syrup. Karo makes a brown sugar variety that seems to be very similar to Golden Syrup and I found it at my local grocery store. Easy. Some recipes online say you can use honey, but I'm not sure it would taste right.


We happen to have the quick variety of oats, they're more chopped up. I think whole oats would work as well.


I made 4 batches of flapjacks to get to these. The first 3 were made using completely wrong amounts of the ingredients. A British recipe is hard to follow if you're used to using volume rather than weight to measure things. oops!
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Ginny's Notes:

1. My last batch of flapjacks came out tasty, but still a little greasy. The next time I make them, I'll use a little less butter. Perhaps 1 stick is enough. They're just too gooey and greasy.

2. I did a lot of research online and found many recipes, all of which used different amounts of each ingredient. Here are a few of them if you want to give them a whirl:
Lyle's Golden Syrup: They make Golden Syrup and have a downloadable recipe booklet that has flapjacks on page 20.
Traditional Scottish Recipes
A Chewy and Chrunchier Version

3. I cooked my flapjacks for 25 minutes at 350F. I will likely bump up the temp. to 375F next time and see how it goes. They should be a little more golden brown than mine were.

4. The corn syrup worked well, but if you want to use golden syrup, here's some resources in America:
Taste of Britain by Post
Jolly Grub
Shop England Online
Cost Plus World Market may have a store near you

5. Don't be afraid to add chocolate chips or little bits of fruit to your flapjacks.

I learned a lot from this recipe and I'm so glad I finally gave it a try. Let me know if you try it and what works for you. Now I want to stop in at Jenn's & see what she's up to...

Two Spoonfuls: Pumpkin Season!

One day, Ginny said to Jenn: "Let's do a cooking blog post." A flurry of emails later, Two Spoonfuls was born!

We are two creative gals who became friends through our mutual love of fabric and sewing. Now, we're bringing our energy and style into the kitchen, trying new recipes, re-vamping old favorites and sharing them with you.

We'll use familiar ingredients to create dishes that are flavorful and easy to prepare, while adding our own helpful tips, bits of kitchen wisdom, and a little food history too. The recipes we share will be practical, with easy gourmet touches.

Look for Two Spoonfuls recipe recommendations: always in time for a weekend, to share with your family and friends.

For the first installment of Two Spoonfuls we're going to make some yummy pumpkin recipes...I made a Spiced Pumpkin Cake.

You know those cool cake pans you can get that look like something? I mean something other than a traditional cake, something cool like a giant cupcake or a beehive? Yeah, well I love those fancy cake pans. A few years ago, before I moved to the UK, I bought The Great Pumpkin Pan from Williams Sonoma. They don't carry it any more, but you can buy it direct from Nordic Ware. Did you know that Nordic Ware invented the Bundt Pan in 1950? That's so cool - I love Bundt pans too (I've got this one)!

The Great Pumpkin Pan is cast-aluminum and it's fantastic. Cast-Aluminum pans are said to distribute the heat evenly and this one is also nonstick. The cakes just fell right out, amazing!


I decided that I'd try out the recipe that came with the pan, you can download it here. I like to get all of my ingredients out and measured before I begin following the steps of a recipe. This one has a ton of ingredients but I think it was worth the effort. Even Nick loves this cake and he says he's not a huge pumpkin fan (though, secretly I think he is).


I found the directions pretty easy to follow, even though I'm a novice mixer operator. I made a huge effort to distribute my batter evenly in each side of the pan, but there was still some trimming required. The best thing about the trimming: we were able to give the cake a taste test before I take it with us to visit friends today. hehe

There were 3 photos of the cake along with the recipe and none of them impressed me as far as decoration goes. I decided in the end that with a cake this sugary and dense, I don't need frosting. I just sifted a little snow (powdered sugar) on top and added a few leaves from the tree in front of my house. I'm so glad I finally got a chance to make a cake with my fancy pumpkin pan. I'm sure it'll be a hit with our friends, it's delicious.

Ginny's Notes:
1. It took me all afternoon to make this recipe, mostly because of the number of ingredients. This isn't a last minute cake and you might have to do a bit of shopping to make it.

2. I over floured the pan and ended up with some unsightly edges on the pumpkin halves. Generously grease, lightly flour.

3. The recipe calls for walnuts. I left the nuts out because Nick's allergic and I'm opposed to nuts "in things". If you want to try something other than nuts, I recommend chocolate chips. They'd be delicious with this rich cake.

4. If you don't have a fancy pan, try making this cake as a Bundt. If you have some batter leftover, make a few cupcakes too. They'd make a nice addition to a packed lunch.

Now, lets stop in at Jenn's to sample her pumpkin bread pudding!