Banana Oat Bars (DF)

Oats are having a hot moment right now, aren't they? Everywhere I look, I see baked oats. In every flavour combo. I get it, they're good. But sometimes, you don't have time or are able to bake oats into a tasty cake. Instead, you gotta grab something quick and easy. 

Monday through Friday is a battle right now and not just with food either. There are more days than not that I just want to reach for a creme egg. Others I'm craving foods that will actually fill me up for longer than 2 minutes. The former is a more regular occurrence right now though. 

Is anyone else feeling this way? 

Like foods are just all becoming samey? 

I'm fully on the side of treat yourself if you can, especially these days. 

Now, you may be thinking, are you kidding me? Banana bars are not a treat. But the creme egg ice cream I have coming your way soon is, don't worry. 

These banana oat bars were born out of needing a snack that was actually filling me up for a considerable time, but also weren't that bad on the good for you side. They are packed with oats and bananas, obviously, with a smidge of cinnamon too. 

Sandwiched between layers of banana oats is a layer of thinly sliced bananas and a sprinkle of dark chocolate chunks. Because you have to treat yourself too. And bananas and dark chocolate make the perfect pairing. 

They can be fiddly to assemble with the top layer, purely because if you dollop the mixture on top, it's not smooth to spread across. Instead, take smaller bits of the oat mixture and press into the tin. 

Banana Oat Bars (DF)

Makes 12 squares or 8 bars

Ingredients:

2 bananas

150g self raising flour

200g oats

100ml maple syrup

ground cinnamon

1 sliced banana

50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f and line a 7x7 inch square tin with greaseproof paper. 
2. In a large bowl, mash 2 bananas up. This is usually easiest with a hand mixer. 
3. Then add the flour, oats, maple syrup and ground cinnamon and mix until it is combined. 
4. Spread half the oat mixture into the tin, pressing into all corners. 
5. Thinly slice one bananas and lay these slices on top of the oat mixture. Then sprinkle the dark chocolate across. 
6. Then, taking small chunks of the oat dough, press them on top of the bananas. until all of the banana slices are covered. 
7. Then place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. 
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing into servings. 
9. I then wrap individual servings up and place into the freezer. Then, when you want one, remove from the freezer and allow to come to room temperature. This usually won't take more than an hour.