Is there anyone who doesn’t like flapjacks? They’ve become a favourite amongst fitness types because they provide a quick release of long lasting carbs from the oats, taste great and are easy to carry in your bag.

I’ve been making flapjacks for years in commercial kitchens and at home which led me to create my own company Chia Charge, which uses Chia Charge seeds and natural ingredients. If you’re training hard, the last thing you want to do is put rubbish into your body, but you need the calories to keep going. Chia seed flapjacks are ace, they combine a traditional favourite with a couple of contemporary twists for active people, with the benefit of  omega 3 oils, protein and antioxidants, they are high in fibre and low in carbs, and if they were good enough for Aztec warriors who am I to argue! Below I’ve given you an insight into how we make them and a recipe for you to try at home!

Top tips for making your Chia Charge flapjack

• Add sea salt flakes, partly for the electrolyte benefit (to replace salt from sweating/exercising) and also to offer changing flavours throughout.
• Use porridge oats, if you want a dense more tight texture that will be easier to cut, if you don’t mind a bit of crumbly texture use Jumbo oats – I think they look great.
• You can create your own twists, with apricots, mashed banana, ginger or anything

Ingredients

You can find nut butter and chia seeds in the home baking section of our shop.

Method

1. Weigh the sunflower seed butter or nut butter into your mixing bowl. If you are using whole sunflower seeds you’ll be getting the benefit of the whole seeds husks and everything which is great, but you need to chop them finely with a food processor before you begin.
2. Blend the seeds or nut butter thoroughly with the golden syrup which will involve some work, unless you use a mixer of course.
3. Then add the brown sugar or honey and the sea salt flakes – give these a thorough blend and finally mix in the chia seeds, oats and fruit.
4. When it is all thoroughly blended (not just mixed in) tip it onto greased baking paper on a baking sheet and spread it out until it is even. A rolling pin can be good for this. Choose your own thickness but generally around 20mm  is good, or 3/4″ in old money.

Baking

The thickness of your flapjack will also dictate to some extent how long out will take, but put your tray into a preheated over at 180C/350F – they will only need about 10 minutes,

Generally I oven bake mine a bit too long, and get very chewy, possibly too chewy edges, every minute less or more will make a difference and you might need to refine the timings depending on your oven.

If they are starting to colour up, you need to take them out of the oven. Make sure you leave them somewhere they can cool down, a cooling wire is ideal.

Commercial bakers may only bake their flapjacks for 5-8 minutes, as they want the flapjack to retain a lot of moisture so they are easier to cut up when cold, as opposed to drying them out and then they just crumble when you cut them.

It is worth remembering this when you are checking the flapjacks, underdone will generally aid slicing, it is a trade off against chewiness and browning.

Stick them in a container, wrap in foil and eat whenever. They will last for about 7 days easily.

Happy baking and remember to send me some flapjack when you’ve made it, or post a picture to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram  or email timtaylor@chiacharge.co.uk