Flapjack

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Packaged flapjack

Flapjack is a name for two different sweet foods. In the UK it refers to a tray-baked treat, and in Canada, the United States, and South Africa, it refers to a form of pancake.

Food

Ireland & the United Kingdom

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on British flapjacks

In Ireland and the UK, a flapjack is a tray bake (or bar cookie) made from rolled oats, fat (typically butter), brown sugar and usually Golden syrup or honey. As well as being baked at home, they are widely available in shops, ready-packaged, often with extra ingredients such as chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, yoghurt and toffee pieces or coatings, either as individual servings or full unsliced trayfuls. Flapjacks are not a cake, but a lot of people consider them as such, they are usually an alternative to a biscuit (cookie) or cake, and textures range from soft and moist to dry and crisp. Because of the high levels of fat and calories in the original version, some 'diet' versions are available with lower fat and calorie content. Similar products are known in Australia as 'muesli bars'.

North America

In Canada, the United States, and South Africa, flapjack is another term for a thin pancake that is not only crispy, but slightly chewy as well. A largely defining attribute of a flapjack is its large diameter, commonly measuring 12" (30 cm) or more. A flapjack is typically made using a corn millet based batter as opposed to pancakes which use a flour based batter. The two are often confused and today are nearly synonymous.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, flapjack is a term for a special variety of footwear similar to sandals. So-called New Zealand Flapjacks never gained significant popularity in other regions.

History

The Oxford English Dictionary records the word flapjack as being used as early as the beginning of the 17th century, but at this time it seems to have been a flat tart or pan-cake. Shakespeare refers to flapjack in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, but this is one of the many anachronisms in his historical plays and does not suggest that he thought it was a middle eastern dish, merely a common English dessert of the time:

"Come, thou shant go home, and we'll have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting-days, and moreo'er puddings and flap-jacks, and thou shalt be welcome."

Act II Scene I

Later, flapjack would be used to describe something similar to an apple flan, but it is not until 1935 that the word is first used to describe a food made of oats. While in England this usage has mostly superseded earlier recipes, in North America, flapjack is another term for a pancake, made using baking powder which causes the pancake to rise. The word elements: flap- meaning a tossed mixture and jack, an uncertain word suggesting a variety, imply any ingredients could be called a flapjack.

Other usage

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• A flapjack can be a kind of hydraulic machine.
• A flapjack is also a derogatory term for a person from an indistinguishable country of origin.
• Flapjack is the name of the titular character in The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
• A Flapjack is a professional wrestling throw.
• Flapjack is a card game with similar rules to Uno.

See also

• Granola

External links

• Flapjack recipe at The Accidental Smallholder