Forget the oven. Make these chewy Scottish-style apple & cinnamon flapjacks in the microwave in a few minutes. Ridiculously good oat bars!
Sometimes you want a sweet treat fast, and you don't want to heat the oven.
When that urge strikes, make a batch of these soft and chewy apple-and-cinnamon flapjacks.
These scrumptious apple oat bars are good for a grab-and-go breakfast as you run out the door, a leisurely morning snack with a creamy cappuccino, and they are perfect for lunch boxes, too.
Made with a few simple ingredients you probably already have.
At a glance - apple flapjacks
⏲️ Ready in: 9 minutes
👪 Serves: 8-16 (depending on size of bars)
🍽 Calories: 325 kcals (8 portions) 163 kcals (16 portions)
🧾 Main ingredients: Oats, flour, a fresh apple, apple sauce, golden syrup (or maple syrup)
👩🏻🍳 Suitable for: Vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, egg-free, vegetarian
Summarise & save this recipe:
Jump to:
- ♨️ Microwave baking
- 📋 The ingredients you need
- 🥣 Basic equipment
- 🍎 Why these apple oat bars stay chewy (not crumbly)
- 🥕 Flavour swaps and added extras
- 💭 How to store them
- 🧾 Related recipes
- ⭐ Sign up for a free recipe sent to your inbox every morning
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make cinnamon apple flapjacks
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
♨️ Microwave baking
You want something sweet and filling fast, or maybe your oven just died, or you are busy cooking dinner in your oven.
Or perhaps it's too hot to bake, but you still want a chewy and comforting snack.
Whatever the reason, you can turn to your microwave to make these quick Scottish-style flapjacks.
All you need is a few simple ingredients, and they are made and on the table in minutes.
The perfect soft and chewy oat bars.
No preheating the oven, no burned edges, and no crumbly disasters.
If you love the idea of these fast flapjacks, try my microwave jam flapjacks or these fruity blackcurrant and lemon flapjacks, which are also baked in the microwave.
📋 The ingredients you need
These oaty apple flapjacks use simple cupboard (pantry) staples you might already have.
- Oats - porridge oats or rolled oats (don't use jumbo oats or oatmeal as their texture is wrong)
- Butter - I use plant-based butter (dairy-free butter/vegan butter)
- Apple - you can use any small eating apple for this recipe. I used a pink lady apple, as we usually have some in the fruit bowl
- Apple sauce - supermarkets and grocery stores sell apple sauce. I buy Bramley apple sauce
- Golden syrup - for that toffee-like flavour, but if you can't get hold of it, you can use maple syrup
- Plain flour - all-purpose flour
- Brown sugar - or demerara sugar
- Cinnamon
- Salt
If you are adding a drizzle of cinnamon icing, you will need extra cinnamon and icing sugar (confectioners' sugar).
🥣 Basic equipment
You don't need much in the way of equipment for this oat bar recipe, as it is such a simple recipe.
There's no need for a food processor; a spoon will do.
Here's what you will need:
- Scales - or cup measures
- Tablespoon & teaspoon
- Small bowl - to melt the butter, you can clean this one and use it later to make the icing
- Mixing bowl - a large bowl to make the flapjack dough
- Microwave-safe dish - glass, ceramics, plastic, and silicone are all microwave-safe
The ceramic dish I use is 13 ½ cm x 18 cm (5 ½ inches x 7 ¼ inches) approximately (see above).
Your dish can be a bit bigger or smaller; the recipe is very forgiving
🍎 Why these apple oat bars stay chewy (not crumbly)
Often, microwave baking can be disappointing; it can be dry or not the texture you were expecting.
These apple and cinnamon flapjacks are always soft and chewy. Here's why:
- Golden syrup - Keeps the moisture locked in and creates that classic Scottish flapjack chewy texture with the distinctive caramel flavour. Only use maple syrup instead if you can't get golden syrup anywhere.
- Apple sauce and fresh apple - Adds moisture and prevents the oats from drying out. They also bring sweetness.
- Mixing the mixture thoroughly - So the oats have a chance to soak in all the flavours and no dry patches.
- Well-pressed mixture - It's important to press the mixture down firmly, so that it is well compacted. Loose oats can turn your flapjacks into a crumbly mess, so take time to compress the mixture with the back of a spoon thoroughly before baking.
The flapjacks will be soft when they come out of the microwave, but will firm up more as they cool.
For more microwave sweet treats, check out my mug cake recipes over at my other blog Tinned Tomatoes, or try this microwave apple crumble here in the lunchbox.
🥕 Flavour swaps and added extras
The basic recipe works well, but you can tweak it.
- Swap the grated apple for grated carrot and add mixed spice or pumpkin spice and ginger for a carrot cake vibe.
- Add raisins, dried cranberries or chopped dates for little pockets of chewy sweetness.
- Throw in a few chopped pecans or walnuts for crunch.
- At Halloween, add some pumpkin pie spice (which is similar to our mixed spice here in Scotland) for a seasonal autumn (fall) twist.
- Or drizzle melted dark chocolate or dairy-free white chocolate over the flapjacks instead of the cinnamon icing drizzle.
I am sure you will have a few ideas too!
💭 How to store them
Once cool, you can store the cut oat bars in an airtight container.
Then keep them in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Although they never last that long in my house.
🧾 Related recipes
Looking for more easy microwave recipes? Try these:
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👩🏻🍳 How to make cinnamon apple flapjacks
These step-by-step photos will show you how to make these easy apple flapjacks (followed by the printable recipe card, which you can also hit print and save as a PDF on your device).
Step 1
- Butter your microwave dish first.
- In a small to medium bowl, add the butter, apple sauce (apple puree) and syrup.
- Microwave until melted.
Step 2
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, oats, and brown sugar.
- Then add the cinnamon and salt.
Step 3
- Mix the dry ingredients well.
- Then add the grated apple and mix it well; this will prevent it from dropping to the bottom of the bake.
- Finally, add the melted butter mixture.
Step 4
- Mix very thoroughly to give the wet ingredients a chance to soak into the oats and to make sure the oats are all well coated.
- Spoon the mixture into your buttered dish and press firmly to make sure it's well compacted with an even surface (you don't want crumbly flapjacks).
- Pop into the microwave to bake, and while it's baking, make some cinnamon icing by mixing icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) with cinnamon and a little water and set aside.
Step 5
- Once out of the microwave, allow the flapjack mixture to cool a little before cutting into bars.
- Allow to cool completely before drizzling over the icing.
- Serve and enjoy!
- As you can see, I also like to serve it warmed up with hot custard for pudding. It makes a tasty after-dinner dessert.
📖 Recipe
Microwave Apple & Cinnamon Flapjacks - Quick & Easy
Ingredients
- 250 g porridge oats (rolled oats)
- 100 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 120 g brown sugar
- 150 g vegan butter
- 50 g apple sauce
- 25 g golden syrup (or maple syrup)
- 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 small apple (grated, skin on, discard the core)
cinnamon icing (optional)
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- Butter your microwave dish (mine is a ceramic dish which is 13 ½ cm x 18 cm (5 ½ inches x 7 ¼ inches) approximately. Try to find one of a similar size, glass, ceramic or plastic. A bit bigger or smaller is ok.
- Add the butter, golden syrup and apple sauce to a microwave friendly bowl and melt for about 1 minute. Set aside.
- Add the oats, flour, brown sugar, grated apple, cinnamon and salt to a mixing bowl and mix well.
- Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to allow all the oats to be well coated.
- Spoon into your buttered microwave dish and press down really well with the back of a spoon. You want the surface as even as possible and the mixture well compacted to prevent the bars being crumbly.
- Microwave for 4 minutes, sit for 2 minutes, then microwave for 3 ½ minutes. See notes below, your microwave may be more or less powerful and you will have to adjust the time.
- Cut the bars in the dish and leave to cool in the dish. it will firm slightly as it cools.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- My microwave is 800 watts. If yours is a higher wattage, you may want to take the flapjacks out a minute or so early. If your microwave is less powerful, the flapjacks may need an extra minute or two.
- You can skip the icing.
- The bars can be cut into 16 squares to half the calories, skipping the icing will also reduce the calories.
- These bars are good crumbled on ice cream or yoghurt.
- They are also good served warm with custard.
Jill says
Another one to add to my to try list. Thanks Jacqs. Jill x
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I hope you enjoy them as much as they jam flapjacks which I know you love.
Belinda says
sound so easy, making them today
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Enjoy them Belinda, they are super easy to make.
Louise says
I am going to try this in my oven as my microwave is small and a bit old. I was thinking 180 fan for 15 minutes. What do you think? I love your recipes.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I would say 160c fan and 20-25 minutes, but keep an eye on them.
jacquie says
these look great and i'm anxious to give them a try but wanted to check on the butter measurement first. is 1 3/4 cups correct? that would be more 1 1/2 sticks which seems like a lot for approximately 2 cups of oats/flour. thanks.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Just googled the measurements (the app converts them for me). 1 and a third stick (113g + 37g = 150g). Hope that helps.