Recipe – Peanut Butter and Banana Baked Oat Bars

Flapjacks are a staple of the cyclist diet. The fact that my High Energy Flapjack Recipe is one of the most viewed blog posts every month confirms that. How can you create variations of the oat based favourite though—to add greater variety and interest?

This recipe is for a different kind of oat bar—held together with banana, eggs, and coconut oil—rather than the traditional flapjack honey/syrup and butter.

I am not going to claim that it is healthier or better, but it is a great alternative. The less crumbly nature of the bars also means they are ideal for jersey pockets.

Ingredients

• 2 medium bananas
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup wholemeal flour
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup of your flavouring of choice: choc chips, chopped dates, raisins, etc.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius
• Grease a 6-inch square baking tin with butter or coconut oil
• Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl and add in the dark brown sugar, egg, oil, and peanut butter. Stir together until well combined
• Add in the baking powder, salt, vanilla essence. Stir more—until all blended in
• Add in the oats and flour, and thoroughly mix
• Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth out
• Bake in the oven until the middle looks cooked (approx. 20 minutes)
• Remove and allow to cool—before chopping into bar sized pieces