Christmas Pudding Flapjack Recipe: The Holiday Leftover Hero You Need
The Boxing Day Bake: Christmas Pudding Flapjacks For The Win – There’s a certain charm in those weird limbo days between Christmas and New Year’s when time loses all meaning and everyone’s living off random combinations of leftovers.
Christmas Pudding Flapjack
Ingredients
- 250g salted butter
- 225g dark soft brown sugar
- 150g golden syrup
- Zest of 1 orange
- 500g rolled oats
- 250g Christmas pudding
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 25cm x 20cm tin.
- Melt the butter, sugar, syrup and orange zest in a large saucepan over a medium heat. The aim is to dissolve all the ingredients so that they are smooth, but to not lose any volume through boiling so be careful not to overheat.
- Add the oats and stir well until evenly coated. Stir through the leftover Christmas pudding and tip into the prepared tin.
- Use a spoon to flatten the top and bake for 40 minutes until the edges start to brown.
- Whilst still warm in the tin, score into 12 squares. Allow to cool completely before cutting along the scores.
- Keeps for 5 days in an air tight tin or freeze for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
Last year, I found myself staring at a substantial chunk of Christmas pudding that no one seemed particularly interested in finishing. It sat there, slightly dried out at the edges, looking forlorn and abandoned like the last kid picked for dodgeball.
I could’ve thrown it away, sure. But wasting food feels like a personal failure, especially when said food took someone hours to steam and contains enough dried fruit to qualify as a USDA-approved serving of antioxidants for approximately seventeen people.
Plus, there’s something about that dense, spiced holiday flavor that seems too precious to toss, even when you can’t bear to eat another proper slice.
When Christmas Pudding Meets Flapjack Magic
That’s when it hit me – what if Christmas pudding could have a second act? A glow-up, if you will.
The British have been making flapjacks (not pancakes, Americans – these are more like hearty oat bar cookies) since time immemorial.
They’re buttery, chewy, satisfying, and – importantly – incredibly forgiving when you start messing with the recipe.
So I did what any reasonable person would do: I chopped up that leftover pudding and folded it into a flapjack mixture. The result? A revelation.
The Christmas pudding flapjack recipe transforms your holiday leftovers into something that people will actually fight over.
The spiced fruit and boozy notes from the pudding get distributed throughout the oaty, buttery base, creating these pockets of intense flavor that make each bite different from the last.
The Beauty of Flapjack Simplicity
Before we dive into the recipe proper, let’s take a moment to appreciate the humble flapjack. It’s essentially a mixture of butter, sugar, and oats pressed into a tin and baked until golden.
Like many of the best British baked goods, it doesn’t involve any complicated techniques or specialized equipment. You just need a pan, a spoon, and the ability to stir things.
This Christmas pudding flapjack recipe follows that same principle of beautiful simplicity. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here – we’re just giving it festive hubcaps.
Christmas Pudding Flapjack Recipe
A super easy recipe for a Christmas pudding flapjack that’s perfect for the holiday season. It’s a fun twist on traditional flapjacks, with all the tasty flavors of Christmas pudding mixed in.
Ingredients
- 250g salted butter
- 225g dark soft brown sugar
- 150g golden syrup
- Zest of 1 orange
- 500g rolled oats
- 250g leftover Christmas pudding, crumbled
Equipment
- 25cm x 20cm baking tin
- Parchment paper
- Large saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Knife for scoring
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4. Line your baking tin with parchment paper, making sure it comes up the sides a bit. This will save you from the special kind of despair that comes from trying to chisel flapjack remnants off a tin.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, and orange zest together. Now, a word of caution: we’re aiming to gently melt these ingredients until smooth, not recreate the bubbling pits of Mordor. If it starts to boil, you’re going too far and might lose volume, which will give you brittle rather than chewy flapjacks. Keep the heat moderate and stir occasionally.
- Once you have a smooth, glossy mixture that looks like something you’d happily bathe in (just me?), take it off the heat. Add the oats and stir until every last oat is coated in that buttery, syrupy goodness. It will look like too many oats at first, but keep stirring – they’ll all eventually get their fair share.
- Now for the star ingredient: crumble your leftover Christmas pudding and fold it through the mixture. Don’t pulverize it – you want identifiable chunks that will create those delightful flavor pockets I mentioned earlier.
- Tip the mixture into your prepared tin and use the back of a spoon to press it down firmly and evenly. This isn’t the time for artistic mountainous landscapes – you want a relatively flat surface.
- Bake for 40 minutes until the edges are browning nicely. The middle might still seem a bit soft, but remember that flapjacks firm up as they cool.
- Here’s a crucial step that took me several broken flapjacks to learn: while still warm (but not hot enough to melt your face off), score the flapjack into 12 squares in the tin. Don’t cut all the way through yet – just create guidelines. Then let it cool completely in the tin.
- Once cool, cut along your score lines, and try not to eat four in one sitting (a challenge I have yet to master).
Storage and Variations
These Christmas pudding flapjacks will keep for about 5 days in an airtight container, though I’ve never actually tested this claim because they’ve never lasted longer than 48 hours in my house.
You can also freeze them for up to a month, which is handy for extending the Christmas cheer well into the bleak midwinter.
Possible Variations
If you’re the type who likes to tinker (hello, kindred spirit), here are some variations to consider:
- No Christmas pudding? Any dense, fruity cake would work here – fruitcake, panettone, even mincemeat could be stirred through.
- Extra indulgence: Drizzle the cooled flapjacks with melted dark chocolate. The slight bitterness works beautifully with the sweet, spiced mixture.
- Boozy boost: If your Christmas pudding isn’t boozy enough (unlikely, but possible), add a tablespoon of rum or brandy to the butter mixture.
- Nutty crunch: A handful of chopped nuts – particularly almonds or hazelnuts – would add a lovely textural contrast.
The Perfect Time for Christmas Pudding Flapjacks
While this Christmas pudding flapjack recipe is obviously perfect for using up holiday leftovers, I’ve been known to make a Christmas pudding specifically for these flapjacks.
They make excellent gifts, particularly for those friends who appreciate homemade treats but don’t necessarily want another jar of chutney.
They’re also ideal for those January days when you’re supposed to be eating virtuously but still want something that acknowledges the existence of joy.
The oats make them practically breakfast food, right? At least that’s what I tell myself as I reach for a second square with my morning coffee.
In the grand tradition of kitchen repurposing, these Christmas pudding flapjacks take something old and make it new again.
They’re a testament to the fact that sometimes the best recipes come not from careful planning, but from staring into your refrigerator with a mixture of hope and desperation. And isn’t that what home cooking is all about?
