I realize it has been a month since I have posted any recipes. Once I decided to move towards posting recipes that were my own creation food posts came to a grinding halt. Not from lack of creation. I actually have about 7 recipes I’d love to post, but developing new recipes to where I think they’re ready to share takes time. Not to mention I have not gotten the pictures I would like out of any of them. Well…truth be told I didn’t have time to photograph some of them at all. This necessitates making the dish again at a time when I can stage and take pictures to my heart’s content. Like…NOT when my family is hungry and awaiting their dinner. 🙂

Yesterday I decided I needed to make something fast, easy, and delicious to post, even if it meant it was not something of my own invention. I have this tin of Lyle’s Golden Syrup that has been sitting in my pantry since last October. I had it in my head that it would be fun to make Treacle Tart to enjoy while watching Harry Potter. I’ve never had it and the name just sounds yummy, doesn’t it? So I drove all the way to Salt Lake City to the London import store, bought the necessary Golden Syrup and then somehow locked Lilly in the car with the keys and my cell phone.…for an HOUR!!! To this day I couldn’t tell you how it happened. What I CAN tell you, is that I exhausted every trick I had up my sleeve to try to entertain her through the windows while waiting for the locksmith who took his SWEET time getting there! But an hour is a very long time for a 21 month old to be stuck by herself in a car and try as I might, the novelty of mommy making faces through the window or disappearing and reappearing through various windows eventually wore off and I just had a very upset, crying toddler on my hands. I couldn’t blame her. I felt totally helpless and near tears myself. She looked so sad and confused as to why I wouldn’t help her! The thought of breaking a window did cross my mind, but as the locksmith was supposed to be there ‘any minute’ I held myself back from taking drastic measures. (I did learn after the ordeal that if your child is locked in the car you can call the police to open your car for you….MUCH faster than waiting for an unmotivated locksmith to make their way over to you!)

Anyhow, after that incident I lost the motivation to make the Treacle Tart. The golden syrup sat in my pantry as a reminder of what a horrible mother I was, and the fact that my child would most likely need serious therapy one day to get over some weird phobia like a fear of seatbelts, or products from London. However, yesterday, after 9 months of avoiding the memory I decided it was time to move on. I would open the tin of Golden Syrup. Treacle Tart will still wait for the fall, but English Flapjacks fit the bill of what I was looking for. If you’ve never had them they are like sweet, chewy, dessert granola bars. They take about 5 minutes to make, are super yummy, AND since they’re perfect with a cup of tea, I could even photograph them with the pretty tea cups I brought back from Scotland! BONUS: The Olympics start in a couple of weeks in London, so it’s the perfect timing to post an English recipe! 🙂

Flapjacks

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Golden Syrup (available at specialty import stores and some grocery stores. It’s a bit like Karo syrup but with a little more of a caramel taste to it)
• 2 1/3 cups rolled oats or porridge oats

Place the first three ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat until the butter is melted, the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

Add the oats and stir. Pour into a well buttered 8×8 square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes until the bars are golden. The edges will be slightly darker than the center.

Allow to cool. Cut the bars into squares and then cut each square diagonally for triangle shaped Flapjacks.

They are sweet, chewy, and completely addictive!

For the record,  Lilly wouldn’t touch them. Clearly she’s not over the locked-in-car-in-parking-lot-of-London-import-store incident.  At least I have yummy sweet treats to assuage my guilt?

**Update: After refusing them every time they were offered, Lilly did find her way onto the counter after I shot these photos, grabbed this flapjack and took a bite. I looked over to see her holding it and declaring “Mmm. It’s good!” and nodding her head in agreement with herself. Perhaps she’s not so scarred after all! 🙂

*Recipe from Bon Appetite