As any regular readers (well, Mum and my best friend) know, I have a few tricksy food issues.  I am allergic to nuts, including coconut (yes, it counts!) and I can’t have wheat flour.  Thankfully I am not gluten intolerant, just wheat. Generally these are not a problem.  I can cook so if I fancy something, I just find a work around.  Until you want something like a healthy granola.

I have spent literally hours part reading recipes.  Every single one has nuts in.  Or coconut oil.  Or coconut butter.  Or desiccated bloody coconut!  Gah!!!

It became obvious that if I wanted something with no refined sugar, wheat free, and also free of those peksy nuts, that I would have to create something.  This is not hard for most people who love to cook and bake like I do, but I am a recipe fan.  They make sense.  Things work right.  Nothing goes wrong (mostly).

Like I said, I have spent hours reading recipes for the kind of thing I wanted, so I went off to the grocery store at the weekend to stock up on things I think would make a good addition to my recipe.

The rest was just dumb luck… 

I started by rough chopping dates.  I added honey and butter, and melted them all together in a pan.

Whilst everything was melting, I weighed out the seeds.  I used milled flax seed, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

Then came the oats.  Like I said, I am thankfully not allergic to gluten so I can do this.  I always use organic Scottish oats whenever I am baking as I find they really do have the best texture.

The only problem with the honey/date/butter stuff was that the dates don’t melt down completely, and I didn’t like the idea of having chunks of them in my flapjack.  So I poured the (molten) hot mixture into the food processor and whizzed it up.  It smelt like toffee.  Yum.

Everything then went into a huge mixing bowl. It took quite a long time to bid it all together evenly.  There is probably a good reason for that, but I am not technical enough to know it!

Time to spread it out nicely into a 9×9 silicone brownie pan.  In case of lack of taste, I covered half of the flapjack with a light dusting of Flavor God’s limited edition Chocolate Donut seasoning.

Into the oven at 180c for 20ish minutes, and it comes out looking slightly burnt!  Good thing my favourite bit is the crunchy edges!!

Leave it to cool slightly and then cut it into squares.  If you leave it too long, it may not cut so neatly.  As you can see, I should have cut it sooner. (UPDATE: Cut into smaller squares than this… like, half the size… natural sugar can make you feel just as sick as refined sugars!!!)

Serve on a plate with nothing else, and take a pic!

Guess what dear readers… It tastes really good!!!  I am so proud of myself!!

Next time I would use slightly less oats.  I think the chia and flax really soak up the moisture of the wet mix, so by cutting back the oats there won’t be as much to cover.

I also think I should use a decent oven!

For those of you who are interested, here is the recipe:

Ingredients
250ml Honey
200g Butter (unsalted)
150g Dates (pitted)
25g Chia Seeds
25g Milled Flax Seed
25g Pumpkin Seeds
25g Sunflower Seeds
400g Oats
Optional – Flavor God Seasoning to dust

Directions
1.  Put honey, butter and roughly chopped dates into a saucepan over low heat, and melt together, mixing regularly.
2.  Weigh out all dry ingredients and put into a large mixing bowl.
3.  When the butter and honey have melted together, ad the dates are soft, transfer to a blender and pulse until a smooth liquid is formed.
4.  Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix well.
5.  Transfer into a 9×9 greased baking tray and smooth down.  Dust with Flavor God seasoning.
6.  Bake in a preheated oven on 180c for 20 mins, or until golden brown.
7.  Cool slightly, then before it’s set, cut into squares.
8.  Eat and enjoy!