Coconut Cardamom Oat Squares (vegan flapjacks with coconut oil, agave nectar and xylitol

 Those of you who have been following my quest for the healthiest yet yummiest vegan flapjack will be interested to know that I think I've got one step nearer (though some modifications are still needed to improve the texture.) Look here, here and here for more flapjack recipes. I hesitate to call these flapjacks as they are soft and crumbly and not crunchy at all. You could use porridge outs instead of jumbo oats and they might hold together more. Key here is the flavour: with the oats is coconut with a hint of cardamom, which makes them a quite unusual combo of Northern European and Asian flavours. I have tried to keep the ingredients as healthy as possible: Coconut oil is the perfect substitiute for butter in baking, as it solidifies when cool, just like butter, but is way better for you (Medium-chain fatty acids protect the heart and lauric acid is antibacterial.) There is xylitol and agave nectar instead of syrup and sugar too.
Makes 12:
80ml agave nectar
190g xylitol
329 ml coconut oil
500g organic jumbo oats
100g desiccated coconut
2-3 tsps powdered green cardamom

• Melt the xylitol and agave nectar together with the coconut oil in a large pan
• Stir in the oats, coconut and cardamom
• Press evenly into an oiled rectangular tin (such as a Swiss roll tin)
• Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes, pressing down with a spatula about half way through cooking. remove from oven when golden-brown.
• Cut into 12 pieces when cool, and remove very carefully from the tin as it's rather crumbly.

My next job is to get this recipe so that the squares/ flapjacks don't break up quite so easily- any suggestions are very welcome!