Matt's Flapjacks

The recipe for these was given to us by Matt Thornhill, aka Monkichi, who'd come to play on our radio station (Real FM) in a Birmingham tower block in the late 90s. He'd brought with him his mate Manish and these delicious flapjacks made to his Grandpa's recipe, and the week after he'd been, from his long-winded early globalnet email address at Timebomb in Bristol, he sent us the receipe.

This is the only flapjack recipe we've used since. In the years since he committed this recipe to email and I printed it out on the back of a Beggars Banquet record reaction sheet (which I have to this day, it's the only record of the recipe I have) Matt's become Head of A&R at XL Records, nowadays heading up the Young Turks record label, and is a busy lad. Recently a Dad, I like to think he still makes these!

This is Leigh's slight riff on the original. He adds a layer of salted chocolate on top and cooks them as individual flaps in cake tins, turning them upside down and putting the chocolate on the bottoms.
The robust, dark salty chocolate works really well with the sticky sweetness underneath - these flaps, after all, use both black treacle and golden syrup as well as sugar!

It is typed, apart from Leigh's additions, exactly as Matt wrote it.

Once again, many many thanks for having me and the keener up for the night., Both had a damn fine time, only wish I could have stayed a bit longer...

Here's that flapjack recipe. it's from my Grandfather so it's imperial...

5oz margarine (we used Suma dairy free)
3oz black treacle
3oz golden syrup
2oz demerera sugar
8oz porridge oats, rolled oats, whatever
really healthy pinch of cinnamon
salted dark chocolate

He also likes it real gingery and adds 2tsp. of ginger powder.
Then chopped apricots if you want.

Melt sugar, marg, syrup etc. in pan. Stir in oats & additionals.

Spread into greased baking thing and give it:

- 20-30 minutes if cooking on one large batch (for example baking tray) - check after 20
- 12 minutes if cooking as individual flaps (for example like we did in fairy cake/muffin tins)

at Gas Mark 4 / 160C.

(They might still be soft to the touch when you remove them, but they'll harden as they cool.)

Once cooled, gently melt salted chocolate in a metal basin over a simmering saucepan (don't let any of the water get in) and pour over the upturned flapjacks. Allow to cool thoroughly.

Think that's it.

Hope it works out...and don't reply to this one cos I shouldn't be spending my day at work writing out recipes really.

All the best,
Matt Monkichi.


Here's Matt spending his day at work not writing out recipes.



Here's the flyer we made when Matt came to play.

MUDDY MUDSKIPPER CAKE

If you have any leftover Solid Egg (lol) you can bash it up into little bits with a rolling pin, or grate it, and add it to THIS recipe.

You need do only this:

Mud Base;
3/4 (three-quarters) cup plain flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup almond or soya milk
Fistful of small chocolate chunks - good for any good leftover chocolate from Easter!

Blend.
Pour into 2 oiled or greaseproofed shallow cake tins.
Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C.
Remove Cakes 1 and 2 and leave to cool.


Mud On Top:
1 cup cocoa powder
1.5 cups brown sugar
1/3rd tbsp marge
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 (half) cup almond or soya milk

Blend.
Smear over Cake 1.
Put cake 2 on top.
Smear over Cake 2.

EAT.

VEGAN TOAD IN THE HOLE. Yes.

You thought the Yorkshire Pudding mix was the Holy Grail, and it was - but this is the discovery of King Richard III under the car park...sort of. Well he had strong connections with York...

Tonight we made Toad In The Hole by pre-heating the oven to 220 degrees C (VERY HOT), adding a significant lump of vegan marge (you can use an oil if you prefer, it'll be a little greasier) to a metal pan and placing it in the oven to pre-heat.

After 5 minutes, add 4 un-meat sausages (Fry's are good, we don't recommend Linda McCartneys' for this) to the heating pan. Put it back in the oven.

Meanwhile, mix up our vegan Yorkshire Pudding Mix. For four sausages, divide the mixture's quantity in half. The quantity of batter mix in the original recipe will be good for 6+ sausages.

Once well mixed, take out your pan with sausages (don't leave more than about 10 minutes).
The fat should be smokin' hot and the sausages starting to brown.
Pour in the batter mix, distributing evenly over the sausages, quickly, and put back in the oven.

Cook for 20 minutes, and check nay poking the a sharp knife into a fat bit after 20 mins - it's OK for it to be a bit sticky inside!

Serve with Cocoa Gravy, roast spuds and plenty of green veg.

SOLID EGG 2015

We’ve made our solid easter eggs twice before (you may even have eaten one) but our versions for 2015 are fabulously evolved beasts!

The eggs are a labour of love that, quite frankly, we make because we can, and because we should, and because the world has been crying out for a solid - like, actual SOLID Easter egg - since Easter Eggs were invented. Easter usually comes right in the middle of an annual busy period, so there is always a late night or two as packaging is designed and photographs are taken…samples eaten...eggs collected…but somehow we do it, for the love of sinking one’s teeth into a bed of praline or gnawing on three inches of chocolate into the night.

Hand-made for us this year by Leicester chocolatier Pete at  Cocoa Amore, whose shop sits right in the middle of the current Richard III activity in Leicester, Solid Egg 2015 has a girthy 70% cocoa shell filled with either solid chocolate or incredible soft praline. Now coming as one solid egg (rather than two halves), we’ve made these in Solid Chocolate, Praline, Salted Chocolate or Ginger (the latter in limited supply). Every egg comes wrapped in a chocolate-brown signed screen print of cocoa-loving artwork by me, printed in Factory Road, just a few doors down. Which is fully washable and can be used for any purpose after the egg is long gone!

This year we’ve made 20 available as a special edition snuggled in a hand-woven nest by international willow artist Tom Hare. If you’ve been to any of the RHS gardens, or Kew Gardens, or latterly to Bishopsgate, the Bellagio in Las Vegas or to Macau...you might have seen his work. He too was in the middle of a super-busy period when we commissioned these nests from him, so we’re grateful to have them - each one will be different from the last.

As usual the eggs are 100% vegan, gluten and dairy-free, with the emphasis on flavour and quality. Oh, and size. And…weight - over 500g per egg.

Watch one being cut, and listen for the chocolate crack!

http://host.inkymole.com/SolidEggBeingCut.MOV

And you can buy one here:

https://factoryroad.net/shop/products/solid-egg-2015/

Check the photographs for proof of the existence of this magnificent celebration of bunnies, greed and re-birth!

MOLE'S BALLS.

We have needed a decent protein ball for a long time, since we are doing more in the gym and Leigh is currently also engaged in some heavy wood-manipulation (we have a woodburner to feed, which in turn feeds the whole house with heat and hot water).

So this is what I came up with. It is a combination of several recipes with my own alterations and additions! It's simple and you can knock up a batch every Sunday like we are now, ready for down-the-week pre-/post-gym or anytime-in-between protein injections, or in your packed lunches.

I also thought these made a good 'BACKATCHA' to Katherine's Raw Carrot Cake Bites - these too are raw.

[Note: Do not use whey protein - it behaves differently from plant-based protein and will not keep as long either (and it make your balls smell funny.)]

INGREDIENTS
Use the same sized cup for everything.
I used a mug, and it made about 20 balls.

1 cup of almonds
1 fistful of cashew nuts (about a quarter of a cup)
1 cup of soya, pea, hemp or other plant-derived protein powder
Pinch of salt
2 x tablespoons pure cocoa powder (not hot chocolate)
2 x tablespoons of coconut oil (MELT GENTLY till liquid)
5 x tablespoons of maple syrup
0.5 cup coconut, almond or soya milk
3 teaspoons of organic (non-propylene glycol) vanilla essence
1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes - half as an ingredient, half for rolling the balls in


WHAT TO DO

Put the dry ingredients - almonds and cashews, protein powder, cocoa powder and salt - into a blender/food processor (we do it on the top of the Kenwood Chef).
Leave the coconut aside for now.
Blend carefully till crumbly but a wee bit sticky-togethery.

Then, in a separate bowl, mix together by hand the maple syrup, melted coconut oil, soya milk and vanilla essence - basically, all the wet ingredients.

Add half the coconut to the wet ingredients once mixed.

Scrape the wet ingredients into the dry stuff in the blender and blend carefully.
You'll probably need to scrape it down from the sides now and again (WITH THE BLENDER SWITCHED OFF!)

When it's well mixed - good and squidgy - dump the lot into a bowl being careful to get ALL that precious mixture out of the blender with a spatula.

Roll into balls neatly about the size of the bottom half of a hen's egg, and roll in the coconut.

Place into a lidded tin on a layer of baking paper, and leave them with the lid off for the first 12 hours or so (or overnight) - this helps them firm up a bit.

Then stuff them in your face.