Simple & Homely

Lifestyles of the poor and unfamous

Sugar-free flapjack recipe

A thick sugar free flapjack on a yellow rimmed plate. The top looks sticky

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The resident Simple & Homely diabetic loves a sticky, chewy flapjack. Getting that well-loved consistency in a sugar-free flapjack, well, that’s the hard part. 

We’ve already made a coconut sugar flapjack for those wanting to reduce their intake of refined white sugar, however one that’s truly diabetic-friendly? Now that’s involved a lot of trial and error. 

But we think we’ve managed it. 

Ingredients (with prices) 

The Skinny Food Co. sugar-free golden syrup being held in front of a mixing bowl filled with oats, coconut sugar and butter

You’ll probably have oats already in your cupboard, so make sure you use those up before going out to buy any more. 

The base recipe of oats, butter, and sugar can easily be done on a budget. The coconut sugar and the sugar-free golden syrup bump the price up. 

You can buy coconut sugar in bulk on Amazon, or if you hunt around a bit, some UK supermarkets – and TK Maxx – sell cheaper bags. We found the Tropical Sun Coconut Sugar that we used in this recipe, linked in the ingredients list to Amazon for £6.25, for £2.99 in TK Maxx, so it is around, you’ve just got to remember to look for it. Even so, you’ll still be looking at two to four pounds for 400g. Being a sweet-toothed diabetic is expensive. 

There’s no getting around the fact that sugar-free baking is far more expensive than regular baking. The upside is, once you’ve bought your bottle of sugar-free golden syrup, you won’t need to buy another one for a long time. 

You can also make this recipe dairy-free by using plant-based baking butter. Stork is well known for their dairy-free baking butters, but use your unsalted baking fat of choice. Swapping for a plant-based butter will make these flapjacks vegan. Sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan flapjacks. 

Method 

Sugar-free golden syrup, butter, coconut sugar and oats all mixed together in a mixing bowl

Before you begin, remember:
Coconut sugar produces darker bakes. The top will look browner, more caramel-y, earlier in the bake that one made with white or light brown sugar would.

  1. Measure 250g of oats, 125g of coconut sugar, and 125g of (cubed) butter into a mixing bowl. 
  2. Stir in three tablespoons of sugar free golden syrup. 
  3. Whisk until all the butter is incorporated. You shouldn’t see any lumps. 
  4. Spread evenly into a baking tin lined with baking parchment. 
  5. Place in the oven or air fryer at 200C for 22 minutes (18 if using an air fryer), or until nicely golden brown on top. If you like yours with crunchy wisps, leave it in for a minute of two longer. 
  6. Remove from the oven and cool. Once cooled, remove from the tin. (Cooling it in the tin helps the flapjack retain its shape at the butter sets.) 

Make a brew, cut yourself a slice, sit back and enjoy! 

Notes

I used a shallow cake tin and a compact air fry to make the flapjacks in the picture, which is why they’re so thick. If you use a bigger tin, yours will be thinner – but don’t worry about the cooking times in the method above, those were determined using a big tin and an oven. 

One note when you’re scranning a flapjack square: you’ll notice that the sugar-free golden syrup isn’t as thick or as coating as regular golden syrup. This sounds weird, but you’ll agree once you taste your flapjack, it tastes thinner. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a good flapjack, the sugar-free syrup just tastes different, as you’ll probably expect. 

This would go well as a snack, or as a picky dessert, served alongside a no-bake Twix cheesecake, or keep it sugar-free with our coconut sugar, pineapple and coconut upside down cake.

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