Approx cost: €4.50
Approx calories (per 100g): ~550
Approx preparation and baking time: 5 hours
I tried “Gü Millionaire’s Flapjacks” a while ago and remember being bowled over by how good they were – definitely worth a try if you can get them, but anyway, this is supposed to be about making them yourself. This recipe is a whole load of fun to make, and surprisingly simple and you end up at the end with a whole giant tray of these things to do whatever you want with. Great for sharing with friends, or just stashing in a tin and keeping for yourself. Some tips to bear in mind:
1) Chocolate is quite a dominant flavour on these, so pick one which has a good taste – something you don’t mind eating on its own.
2) The boiling of the condensed milk which actually create Dulce de Leche, or “Confiture de Lait”. Many people keep this around to eat on bread, or serve with fruit or ice-cream, so it makes an awesome dessert too
3) Don’t heat the chocolate too fast – I know many people say you should use a water-bath, I never do. I find melting the chocolate gently over a low heat and stirring constantly is sufficient. Unfortunately, I’d just been using the stove to boil the caramel so the chocolate ended up being a paste. If you can do this, it’s still usable, although you may want to add a bit of cream to loosen it up a bit.
Ingredients
Ingredients you'll need for this dish
Flapjacks
– 350-400g Rolled Oats
– 100g Butter
– 180g Sugar
– 2tbsps Honey
– 2tbsps Golden Syrup (Replace with honey if not available)
Caramel
– 400g Sweet Condensed Milk in a can
– 50g Butter
– 3tbsps Cream
Chocolate
– 300g Milk Chocolate (or Plain depending on taste) with a good taste
– 25g Butter
Instructions
- By far the longest part in the process of making these awesome things is the creating of the Dulce de Leche so you have to get that under way first. Take your can of condensed milk and stick at least 2 holes in the top. I tend to go for 3-4. The wholes shouldn’t be too large – just the kind of size as if you’d stabbed the tin with a knife-tip and twisted it gently. Place the tin inside a pan (which is taller than the tin) and fill the pan with water until just below the top of the tin. Bring to the boil and boil for about 4 hours. Keep uncovered – you’ll need to keep topping up the water level in the pan every 30 minutes or so.
- About an hour before the Dulce de Leche is ready, you can start preparing the flapjacks. Take a baking tray and pour the oats into the tray to ensure you have a good even covering over the tray. You should have a layer of about 1cm over the whole tray. Set aside for a moment and place another pan on the stove. Add in the sugar, butter, honey and syrup and cook gently, stirring all the time, until the butter has melted. Pour the oats into the pan with the butter/sugar mix and stir well until the oats are well coated with the butter.
- Grease the baking tray with a little butter, and then transfer the oats/butter mix into the tray and press down firmly so the top is smooth and evenly covers the tray. Place into a pre-heated oven at around 160 degrees Celsius for about 20-25 minutes, or until starting to turn golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Once the Dulce de Leche is ready, allow to cool for a few minutes so the tin can be handled, and then open up and scoop out the contents into a pan, with the butter and cream. Heat gently, stirring constantly until everything has melted down and mixed together and then raise the heat a little, still stirring, so the mixture starts to bubble. Pour on top of the flapjacks in the tin and spread to cover the top.
- Allow to cool for 20 minutes or so and then break the chocolate into chunks in a pan, add the butter and heat very gently, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has completely melted.
- Pour over the caramel and spread to cover. Allow to set for around 20 minutes in a cool place before cutting into piece. Personally I like to cut into small pieces which are around 2 bites each – each one is very rich so you don’t need much to satisfy any sweet cravings. Store in a cool place in a tin and enjoy!
Nom nom
Wow!!!! What a pity I didn't know your blog at the time you posted it! And the video is really impressing (funny to hear you voice 😉 )
I think the Flapjacks are absolutely gorgeous and since I plan making them in the more or less near future, I have some questions:
-can I use dark chocolate?
-can I use molasses instead of the golden syrup?
Otherwise I also make the same thing with condensed milk, but I don't make holes and put it compeletely covered with water all the time.
Hi Sissi – it's the problem of the early days in having a blog. I posted quite some recipes I'm proud of but as I had very few followers quite a lot of my posts got little coverage. I hope you make the flapjacks… even if you don't add the caramel and chocolate, but instead add some spices like ginger and nutmeg to the flapjacks they're truly delicious! For your questions:
– Dark chocolate… to be honest, I thought I had, but checking the recipe again now I see I used milk chocolate. It's absolutely no problem to use dark chocolate, but don't do what I did and over-heat it so it turns into a hard lump (although the chocolate wasn't really good quality either to be fair!). I never used to use a water bath. You can melt chocolate easily on direct heat, if you're careful, but I figure from now, why risk it? 😀 If dark chocolate is what you prefer then it will definitely be better for you at the end!
– Molasses… this is a good question. Do you mean the molasses sugar or the "syrup" (thick, black treacle stuff)? I've never tried it before. Sometimes when I've had no syrup I've used honey in its place, but I definitely think molasses would work – after all, it's "only" 2 tbsps, and it would probably give a rich flavour.
I have to say, your method of making the "dulce de leche" scares me a little. It was my understanding that cans have a habit of exploding as the contents heat and the vapours and gases produced have nowhere to go (hence the holes punched in the top)… but perhaps condensed milk reacts differently. In any case, if you've done it before then I guess it must be fine (probably makes the saucepan easier to clean. With the holes, sometimes some condensed milk bubbles over and then gets boiled around the whole saucepan for hours, sticky and impossible to clean 😀
Charles, I mean the thing which is called "molasse" in French (maybe it's "treacle" in English?). It's like a dark syrup. I add it sometimes to gingerbread and lately to ANZAC biscuits. I suppose it has a stronger taste than golden syrup… I can buy golden syrup easily, but it's very expensive and I thought since I always have the dark one at home…
I must admit when I saw your method with condensed milk I thought it was very logical and my own method scared me, although I practiced it several time without explosion! I found it on a baking blog and saw that the visitors of this blog also practiced it… Apparently the only important thing is that the milk be covered deeply by the water, so it has to be done in a big pan and the water level checked every 30 minutes. It takes only two hours + cooling.
I totally agree with melting the chocolate in a pan. It's so simple! and quick. I agree also that 10 seconds of warming too much and the chocolate changes the structure, becomes separated in big lumps… It happened to me several times. I also melt chocolate in the microwave.
Frankly, I really like only dark chocolate. Whenever I go to the chocolatier, I always choose only dark chocolates… Thanks for the long answer! I hope I'll make the flapjacks soon (as soon as I use the tomatoes and peach stock I brought from France last weekend… I mean I'm making preserves…).
Yeah, it's black treacle in English, though you're lucky – I've never seen it in France so have to resort to importing it from England 😀 I've never heard of anyone adding treacle to flapjacks, but it would definitely give a rich, sweet flavour to them I think! I heard that you can add cream to the chocolate if you've "over-heated" it which will help to return it to the liquid form, but then you start venturing into the realms of ganache and maybe it wouldn't set hard, which is quite important for a good "Millionaire's" flapjack I think. Let me know how you get on with them when you make them – I'm going to make some Millionaire's Shortbread sometime too… same sort of thing but with shortbread instead of flapjacks. A regular sight in English cake shops! Were you in France last weekend then? Anywhere near Paris? If you ever are we should all meet up maybe!
Thank you, Charles, again!
Have you been to the grocery department at Galeries Lafayette? They have some English products (I have bought an excellent lemon curd for a friend of mine, it was before I realised how to make it at home 😉 )
The thing called "molasse" can be found in French organic shops too (in Switzerland I buy it in a regular supermarket), I am very curious if it's exactly treacle or something similar…
So flapjacks is the name of crust? It sounds very funny!
Yes, I spent last weekend in France, but quite far from Paris, alas. I would love to meet one day. And I love going to Paris, so next time I go there I will certainly let you know!
Hi Charles, I have made your millionaire's flapjacks! They are amazing! I have only messed up a little the bottom layer (I think I shouldn't have used big oat flakes, but slightly crushed… it wasn't flat at the bottom and the pieces look very messy) and they were too ugly to be posted, but I will make them once more (it will be one kilo more for me too…) because I have to spread the word 🙂 Thanks for the incredible recipe! (I shouldn't write about them: now I want some more…)
Oh, wonderful! I'm glad you liked them, but I'm also sad – tomorrow I'm posting another "Millionaire's" recipe, which is easier and much more tasty than the flapjacks I think. It's too bad you couldn't try that one instead but – maybe next time 😀
Charles, it' very good news! I haven't posted the "old" one anyway and I was so furious by the visual aspect given the delicious taste (I have also added something which made the layer impossible to cut, it will teach me not to mess too much with new recipes…), I will make it once more in a couple of days. I only need condensed milk 😉
I am looking forward to see your new recipe!
Hi Sissi – I forgot to tell you, I made Millionaire’s Shortbread, not the flapjacks, again recently for an English speaking mothers’ group in Paris for a bake-sale they were having to raise money for a breast-feeding charity. The whole box sold out in about 30 minutes and people were writing on the forum how delicious they were which made me “glow” with pride, but the thing I wanted to tell you was that I used your method of making the dulce de leche! I will never use another method… I was so scared, putting a sealed can inside but it works perfectly, and you get a much more evenly brown, richer dulce de leche!
The only problem was that when you open the can the first time a small amount of dulce de leche explodes out from the small hole and went on my hands, but I fixed it the next time by just letting the can cool a bit and putting a cloth over the top when opening 😀
Hi, Charles! Congratulations! Thank you for telling me this wonderful news! I am sorry I haven’t mentioned the obligatory cooling process. I’m glad you haven’t ended up at the hospital (I would really feel bad). I usually leave the can to cool down overnight so that I’m sure it’s really cold.
The process is very easy indeed but if you forget about the can and the water level goes below it, it can explode 😉
I must make Millionaire’s Shortbread once more! (I always hesitate because I like it much more than my husband, so guess who ends up eating most of the batch?) Anyway, I must make it one day presentable enough to post a photo!
Congratulations for the success of your shortbread!
My GOD what a calorie bomb
But a delicious, tooth-melting, caramel and chocolate covered calorie bomb 😀
I recently blogged a recipe for healthy cakes which actually look a lot alike. =)
These can be quite rich – a healthy version wouldn’t be bad – I’ll have a look 🙂