Chocolate Covered Flapjacks

I love going to my parent's house not least because I get to see my parents but also it means there are other people to cook for! I love my Mum's kitchen which is twice the size of mine and has an island bit in the middle creating loads more surface space. I am really lucky as she is quite happy for me to do what I want in the kitchen and of course she gets to eat the results! We also do a lot of cooking together now when I go home or when she stays with me, helping each other out to create a dish like the Burmese Chicken Curry we made a few months ago. It's fantastic being able to do that, especially as she is a fantastic ook in her own right and pretty much taught me how to cook. She is always the one I ring up when I want to know something about an ingredient or a food pairing! I feel very lucky to have both my parent's love and support.

I went to my parent's house for the bank holiday weekend and when I got there and I knew I wanted to bake, I had a hankering for something oaty. When I was little I didn't like flapjacks or anything that contained oats, I didn't like the texture. Now, I still don't like the idea of muesli or proper porridge and so stick to ready brek for breakfast, but I do like flapjacks and so that's what I made after a quick shopping trip to pick up some oats and chocolate. As oats are pretty healthy I thought I'd add the chocolate to balance things up a bit! I'd never made them before but they were really easy to make and although they were delicious, they could have done with a bit more ginger.

Chocolate Covered Flapjacks (adapted from Baking Made Easy - Lorraine Pascal)
(Makes 12)

175g butter
150g golden syrup
150g light brown sugar
350g porridge oats
50g raisins or sultanas
½ lemon, finely grated zest
1/2 tsp ground ginger
150g milk chocolate

Preheat the oven to 150C and line a 20cm/8in square baking tin with baking paper.

Melt the butter in a medium pan over a low heat. Dip a brush in the butter and brush the baking tin with a little bit of it. Add the golden syrup and sugar to the butter and heat gently. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the porridge oats, raisins, lemon zest and ginger.

Pack the mixture into the baking tin and squash down. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Bring half a pan of water to the boil and put a bowl on top, make sure that the bowl isn't touching the water. Break the chocolate into the bowl and stir until it is melted.

Once the flapjacks are cooked, remove from the oven and pour over the chocolate, leave to cool until the chocolate is set, in the fridge is quickest, then turn out onto a chopping board and cut into squares.