(15-24 pieces depending on the size you want to cut them)
Ingredients
350g dried pitted dates
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100ml water
100ml oil (veg/rapeseed/sunflower)
125g maple syrup (or similar)
100g light muscovado sugar
20g blanched hazelnuts
20g macadamia nuts
200g oats
50g ground almonds
50g dessicated coconut
100g plain flour (you can use gf plain flour, it results in a crumblier bake but still works well)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
A pinch of salt
Method
Grease and line your 18x30cm brownie pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 150C.
Place the dates, cinnamon and water in a saucepan and cook over a low heat for 40-60 minutes, until they cook down to a soft puree. Stir frequently and make sure it doesn't burn or go dry, you can add a splash more water if needed. Once the dates are fully softened, set the mix aside to cool.
In a separate small saucepan, heat the oil, syrup and sugar gently until all the sugar is dissolved, at which point turn up the heat and bring the mixture to the boil, mix well and set aside.
While the liquid is heating, prepare the dry ingredients: Blitz or finely chop the hazelnuts and macadamias. Place into a large mixing bowl with the oats, almonds, coconut, flour, bicarb, salt.
Add the (careful!) hot liquid to the dry ingredients and mix to form a sticky dough.
You should have around 800g of flapjack mix. Press 500g into the base of the lined tray, and spread the date mixture evenly on top of it. Then crumble the remaining flapjack mix over the top, trying to cover as much of the date layer as possible.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until deep golden brown.
Allow to cool completely in the tray on a wire rack before removing and slicing.
These keep well in an airtight container for a few days, and freeze very well too. also, You can do the cooking of the dates ahead of time, even a day or two before!
