THE RETURN OF THE BRILLIANT BANANA BREAKFAST BARS

Bananas are one of the most versatile fruits you can have in your kitchen. Great in cakes, tarts and
puddings and as part of my fabulous breakfast bars which I posted up last year. When they went online, they were an instant hit due to their simplicity. Its one of the easiest recipes ever, great for when you want to whip up a delicious homemade treat with a minimal effort. Whats even better is that they are void of eggs, sugar, syrup and treacle so they are much more waistline friendly than your more traditional flapjacky oaty bar. The natural sugars in the banana and dried fruits are all you need to make this a brilliant grab-on-the-go treat!

It's always good to have frozen bananas handy for a quick bake. If you have any that are on the turn lying around looking sad at the bottom of your fruit bowl, throw them straight in the freezer. They will last for a month longer and are super soft when they defrost which makes them really easy to mash, great for throwing into any kind of banana based bake and reducing your household food waste too.

You might find the recipe below slightly vague as well in the way when I talk about dried fruits and nuts. That is because you can use whatever you like to make a breakfast bar that is suited to you. So for the dried fruits you can use for example raisins, cranberries or apricots and for the nuts why not use pecans, walnuts or chopped almonds. It's really up to you to experiment.

So all you need is a large bowl and a 25cm squared deep sided baking tray and you're ready to go. Ready? Concentrate now as it's a complicated recipe;

Banana Breakfast Bars

3 Large Mashed Bananas

200g Oats

175g Dried Fruits

75g Chopped Nuts

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1. Turn your oven on to 180 degrees (160 fan) and line your baking tray with grease proof paper.
2. Take all the ingredients and throw into a big bowl and beat everything together until well combined. Pour the mix into the your lined baking tray and spread out evenly with a spatula. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
3. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely to allow the bars to firm up.

Yeah, so I lied! These breakfast bars are not really complicated to make at all are they! All you need to do once the bake is cool is remove it from the tray, peel off the grease proof paper and cut the squares into 16 equal pieces. Pop them in a tin and leave them in the kitchen ready to dip into when you're either running out the door at breakfast or to tuck into with a nice relaxing cup of tea in the morning. The bananas and dried fruits make the bars chewy whilst the nuts add a bit of crunch and texture. There is only one word you can use to describe these breakfast bars. Brilliant!