White chocolate pomegranate flapjacks

I recently bought a pack of dried pomegranate seeds in an Asian supermarket.  They were quite sharp and crunchy, so rather than using them in cupcakes or cookies, I decided to try using them in flapjacks as an alternative to raisins or nuts.  I soaked them for a while first in some pomegranate juice and sugar to bring out the full flavour and sweeten them as they'd become quite bitter (I'm sure they're really designed to be used in Moroccan tagines and savoury dishes).  I also decided to add some sugar to the butter and syrup mix to compensate for the sharpness of the pomegranate.  They came out really well - the seeds were still quite crunchy, but the whole flapjack had a lovely fruity flavour and a gooey texture from the melted white chocolate.

Ingredients

200g dried pomegranate seeds

4 tbsp pomegranate juice

150g unsalted butter

100g golden syrup

100g golden caster sugar

450g rolled oats

200g white chocolate buttons

2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Start by soaking the pomegranate seeds in a bowl with the juice and a tablespoon of caster sugar.  Cover with clingfilm and set aside for a couple of hours.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 170°C and grease a baking tin.
3. Once ready, strain the juice into a saucepan, and add the butter, syrup and sugar.  Heat over a low heat and stir until melted.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the oats, followed by the pomegranate seeds and half the white chocolate buttons.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth into all the corners, making sure the mixture is flat. Decorate with the remaining chocolate buttons.
6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins.
7. Cool completely in the tin and dust with icing sugar before cutting into squares.