Making Flapjacks

So, we made flapjacks today, straight from the Scott's Porage Oats box that I bought at the British grocery store yesterday. As I mentioned, Mama loved flapjacks--not American pancakes, but a British not-quite-crunchy granola bar made purely of oats, though not your regular Quaker oats, and sugar and butter--on our two trips to England and has been disappointed that you can't get them here, even at the British store. And, while it seems a fairly common food, I'd never tracked down a recipe I thought sounded reliable (even in my Mrs. Beeton's!). And then, yesterday, for the first time, I found a box of Scott's with a recipe for flapjacks on the back. So, I bought the box, picked up a can of Lyle's Golden syrup (hmmmm, this is good stuff, like honey and corn syrup and maple syrup all in one yummy can. I'm learning all sorts of recipes to use it, like sticky toffee pud), and was sure I had a bag of demerara sugar (same as turbinado, or raw, sugar) at home.

Today, Sis and I made flapjacks. But there were some challenges. I had spent last night trying to convert the metric recipe to American standard (wouldn't you know my standard/metric scale's battery is dead??). Turns out that 125g of butter is 8.8 tablespoons. But I found that 125g of demerara is not 2 cups, as I hard unearthed last night. It's more like 1/2-3/4 cup (based on a little less than halving my 283g bag of sugar). And the 225g of oats is a little less than half a box, or about 2 cups, roughly. Luckily, the oven temps were given not only in Celsius and Gas Marks (what is a gas mark?), but also Fahrenheit. But what is a 20 cm sandwich tin? A bread loaf pan? What do Brits make sandwiches in? Mama googled it and found a picture--it's a 8 or 9" round cake pan.

With all that info, we were ready to bake. There was some tension with the golden syrup, which I got all over me, Sis, the stove, and the can, as I had forgotten to spray the measuring spoons with cooking spray first so that the syrup would just slide right off. Not that anyone minds licking golden syrup off anything! Otherwise, it's kinda like making Rice Krispie treats--melt butter and sticky stuff on the stove, add cereal. But here, you also add ground ginger, which was a surprise (I probably added only 1/2-3/4 teaspoon, instead of 1 whole teaspoon). Then you put it in a greased "sandwich tin" and bake it at 375F for 20 minutes.

Oh, it bubbled and browned and filled the whole house with this wonderful oatey smell. The flapjacks are cooling now, which they'll do for almost as long as they cooked (boiling sugar is way too hot to try to eat). We'll score them into pie shapes and eat them after dinner. I can't wait!

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Flapjacks

125g (approx. 9 tablespoons) butter or cooking margarine

125g (approx. 1/2-3/4 cup) demerara sugar (aka turbinado or raw sugar)

5 tablespoons golden syrup

225g (approx. 2 cups) Scott's Porage Oats (NOT old-fashioned Quaker Oats or even McCann's Steel Cut Oats)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5. Grease in a 20 cm sandwich tin (8 or 9" round cake pan).

Melt butter in a large pan and stir in the sugar and syrup. Add the Scott's Porage Oats and ground ginger and mix well.

Using the back of a metal spoon press mixture evenly over the base of tthe tin and smooth over.

Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then score into 8 wedges.

Cool completely, turn out and break into wedges.

Scott's Porage Oats box

Connecticut Yankees in Sir Topham Hatt's Court

We had a hurricane on Saturday, the day we had bought tickets months ago to spend a Day out with Thomas. And despite the dismal weather, we went to Essex and had a wonderful time. Good yankees (even transplants like myself) aren't deterred by a little rain and 45 mph winds. Besides, it made it all more British. I mean, who expects perfect, sunny weather on the oh-so-Anglo Isle of Sodor? And our kiddos don't notice weather anyway.

Which is good, because it started to spit as we arrived in eastern CT. As a sign of good things to come, however, we got one of the last parking spots in the closest lot. From there, we entered the festival grounds and almost immediately saw Thomas the Tank Engine pulling in a passenger train. DD and DS were beside themselves--it was Big Thomas! And they were going to ride on him!

But first, they wanted to ride all the kiddie rides. Carousel, first. Up and down, around and around--their favorite ride at the zoos. Then they spotted the little train. Which parents aren't allowed to ride. Hmmm, two year olds alone on a questionable mechanical ride. But you have to let go sometime, and they seemed so determined as they climbed into the train car themselves and sat on the same side but not too close to one another. Stoically, they rode around on the jerky, miniature train, smiling each time they saw us wave. Our little kids were all grown up. And wanted to ride again. DS headed straight to the engine--he didn't even exit and re-enter, but luckily there was no line--and sat right now with the bell pull within reach. Sis sat across from him and they drove the train. And then moved on to the fire trucks, on which they were the only kids not crying like the visitors to Santa in A Christmas Story.

As the downpour picked up we headed to the Thomas shop. While not thrilled with the commercialism (or burgeoning brand loyalty), we perused the offerings and chose two little trains for our wooden track. A Thomas for DS and a purple train named Rosie for DD (her choice, because of the purple, no doubt. Though, when asked, she says her favorite color is green). And we loved watching the model train at the back of the shop. ImaginationStation downstairs was equally enthralling, with toy train sets and coloring sheets and free tattoos. Oddly, the kiddos, especially DD, were really excited about Sir Topham Hatt (though she calls him Sir Captain Hat). See, we don't really watch Thomas and Friends, they just like trains. So, I can't imagine how they really have any grasp of who the man in the morning suit is. But DD wanted to see him, though not enough to stand in line, and so we took her back over and over.

It was our ticket time to ride Thomas. "All Aboard," the conductor called. And we gleefully climbed aboard our passenger car. Sitting in facing seats, the kids jubilantly waved out the window at anyone, and most of them waved back. Soon the train pulled out of the station and we were on our way. I'll hand it to the organizers, the little stories they told during the trip made sense of why Thomas was in back of the train and then why we later reversed direction. There were also stories about being good. None of which my kiddos paid any attention to. They were driving their own Thomas and Rosie up and down the window ledges and across the seats, then drawing pictures in the condensation of the glass. DP draws a mean tank engine and several kids in nearby seats watched. The ride was just long enough that we enjoyed it but didn't get bored. We disembarked and waved goodbye to Thomas, soon heading to lunch in a nearby restaurant and home.

The epilogue of my story wraps up our very British day: we had a tea party at home. Using her pink and green tin tea set, DD served tea to myself and her brother, repeatedly. She'd pour the tea, we'd drink, she'd take the cups and pour again. Over and over. We added the milk bottle from the baby set because I like milk in my tea. There were even slices of cake, from the birthday cake set, and we ate those on pretty little plates, singing "Happy Birthday" for each of us, a few times. And when I told her how much I liked her tea, DD hopped up, grabbed a post it and crayon, and wrote out the recipe for me.

All in all, a marvelous day.