Goji berries are very good for you but, on their own, they don’t really suit my palate. Nutrition experts will tell you they have a ‘herby after-taste’. That may be true but my tongue reads it as ‘ick, bitter, blurgh.’ I need to blend them with a few choice ingredients to make them palatable for me so I created these fab flapjacks make goji berries. They taste great, not bitter-blurgh at all, which is useful because they’re a fantastic food for runners.
They’re rich in anti-oxidant Vitamin A and collagen-building Vitamin C, which is important for keeping cartilage, ligaments and tendons healthy. They’re also a good source of iron, which female runners in particular are often deficient in. These flapjacks contain chia, pumpkin and sesame seeds to boost their protein content. They’re also made with date syrup, which is a great natural sweetener that contains potassium, iron and magnesium.
Quick and easy to make, these flapjacks keep well in an airtight container for a week or more. They also freeze well if you make extra. They’re a top notch treat in your lunch box, fab for a recovery snack after working out and perfect for taking out on long walks and in your nosh bag on your bike rides. Oh, and they taste great with a cuppa. Suddenly, I love goji berries…
- 350g rolled oats
- 100g goji berries
- 4 tablespoons hot water
- 3 tablespoons date syrup
- 50g pumpkin seeds
- 50g chia seeds
- 50g black or white sesame seeds
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Preheat oven to 180C / Fan 160C / 350F / Gas 4.
- Line a 7 inch square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
- Soak the goji berries in the hot water for at least 10 minutes.
- Drain the goji berries (save the water for a smoothie) and place all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix all of the ingredients together well. It will be sticky - the easiest way to do this is to get your hands in there and squish it all together. If the mixture seems dry, add some of the water drained from the goji berries.
- Spread the mixture in to the tin, pressing it into the corners.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes (check after 15 minutes - if it's getting too brown place a sheet of tin foil on top).
- Cut into squares while hot and leave to cool in the tin.
Yum! I love goji berries, I like adding them to hot water and lemon in the morning.
ooh, I’d never thought of that. Can you just drink them down like that?
this recipe doesn’t work! something must be missing as they don’t stick together at all??
Oh no, what a disaster! It’s awful to spend time cooking and not get the results you want. Mine worked really well so I’m trying to work out what happened. Was the mixture sticky before you baked it? I’m wondering if it needed more moisture before it went in the oven – mine was so sticky it couldn’t have dried out in 20-25 minutes in the oven. Did you soak the berries? That’s where a lot of the moisture came from so if it wasn’t sticky, it might have needed some of the soaking liquid. Hope that all makes sense and so sorry you had a bad experience!
Made mine last Sat! Really yummy x
Yay, so pleased you liked them!
Given this a try, very crumbly first attempt. Didn’t have date syrup so used some malt rice and maple which may not have been as sticky. Also added a spoon of chocolate protein powder which would have made it dryer/crumblier.
So some tasty crumbly flapjacks and some accidental granola on the side which went on top of this mornings porridge!