What’s the story with recipes that include a 2000 word intro before you’ve even seen a photo of a vegetable? Is this another one of those things that only annoys me, like Reply All email chains or text messages beginning ‘Hi’ not ‘Hi Lisa’ (ruuude)? I promise, I will never start a recipe with a long essay. But…
I will preface this banana oat bar recipe by saying that I first started making this recipe because I used to eat those ‘healthy’ cereal bars a lot, before I realised that there’s more sugar in them than in a cupcake and they’re pumped with palm oil, additives and all sorts of nasties. When I don’t eat on the hour, every hour, I get hangry, so I needed a healthy snack to pop in my bag and eat on the go.
I found a great recipe for banana, oat and raisin bars in Dale Pinnock’s The Medicinal Chef book (a much-recommended recipe book that organises recipes by medical problems) and that set my oat-bar-baking ball rolling.
I altered Dale’s original recipe slightly to include nuts and seeds instead of dried fruit but you can go for whatever extras you like – dried cherries, raisins, berries, flaked almonds – and I’m positive they’ll turn out delicious. These oat bars are great for a healthy breakfast snack, for sneaking nuts and seeds into your diet and if you’re looking for a high fibre healthy snack on the go.
Here’s my banana oat breakfast bar recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup & a half jumbo oats
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed in a bowl
- 1 heaped tablespoon of crunchy, sugarfree peanut butter
- Half a tablespoon of raw organic extra virgin coconut oil
- Roughly chopped walnuts/pecans (I use about 12 walnuts but go wild!)
- 2-3 tablespoons of flax seeds/sesame seeds (or both)
- 3 tablespoons of sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds (or both)
METHOD
- Slowly melt the coconut oil and peanut butter over a medium heat. If the consistency isn’t runny, you can add a teaspoon of honey at this stage but I prefer to keep the recipe vegan.
- Remove from the heat, add the mashed bananas and stir in.
- Add the oats bit by bit and fold them into the mixture, ensuring there’s no pockets of dry oats.
- Add the seeds and chopped nuts. Mix gently so evenly dispersed.
- Preheat your oven at a medium-high heat (180 C) and lightly grease your flat baking tray with coconut oil.
- Spread your mixture onto the baking tray and flatten it out gently so that it resembles a large rectangle. Sometimes I add more chopped walnuts as a topping and gently press them into the mixture before baking.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool before cutting into bars (or big messy squares like I do). Enjoy!
If you’re looking more healthy snack recipes, try these easy oat cookies or these raw peanut butter brownies.
Sounds great! Thanks for the recipe I’ll have to try it soon! You’ve got my follow. Check out my comedy blog and give it a follow if you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I’ll definitely check out your blog. Let me know how you get on with the recipe! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome I will let you know!
LikeLike
Loved your recipe
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great to hear that. Thank you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person