I grew up eating these delightful treats. My mom was THE best at offering snacks...after school snacks, bedtime snacks, post skating snacks...they were staples in our house. And I am oh so thankful for her diligence in caring for our hungry tummies! Banana Oat Squares made a regular appearance in our snack realm and I now realize why. Not only are they delicious, but easy and quick to prepare, utilize ripe bananas and are healthier than most classic baked goods. With a few tweaks on my behalf, I created an even healthier square...one I am comfortable eating for breakfast (and have been for the past couple days!).
1/4 coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup sucanat
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
3 cups oats
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 tsp sea salt
Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F and coat a 8 x 8 square baking dish with coconut oil. In a large bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil and sucanat.
Sucanat is my baking sugar of choice. A whole cane sugar, it is crushed to extract the juice which is then heated and reduced to a thick brown syrup. The syrup is cooled and dried, creating dry granules. Sucanat contains naturally occurring molasses which is full of minerals including iron, calcium, B6, potassium and chromium. It's a great sugar substitute due to the nutritional benefits, and is also easy to substitute in your favorite baking recipes. Try in muffins, cookies, and most cakes- simply substitute 1:1.
In a separate small bowl crack eggs. Add to oil/sugar mixture and whisk. Cracking eggs in a separate bowl is helpful, lest any eggshells creep in. Much easier to fish out when the eggs are solo.
In a medium bowl mash bananas using a fork. Add bananas to liquid ingredients.
Stir in oats, coconut, chocolate chips and sea salt and pour into baking dish. Bake at 350°F for
35 minutes until golden brown. Cut into squares when cooled...if you can wait! :)
If you can bear to part with the dark chocolate chips, you can experiment with add-ins. Try frozen blueberries, walnuts, raisins, dried cherries, or a combination! Happy snacking.
5 comments:
I make these ALL the time! I wondered about an alternative to using butter though. Can't wait to try them with coconut oil instead. Thanks sis! xo
How can I not comment on this blog post? Yes, our children were raised on banana oat squares! But thanks to Genevieve, the whole world now has a much healthier version on this Gladysz Family Classic. Thanks, the banana and I are honoured!
These look delicious! I am looking forward to making them!
I just made these, I plan on bringing them to our ladies group in the morning. I was looking for a gluten free snack and this works. I also loved that you used coconut oil! They smell just amazing while baking! And of course, I could not wait for them to cool before tasting. They are delicious. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks everyone! Karen- I am glad they were the perfect gluten-free snack for you. If you really are trying to eliminate gluten, be sure to buy gluten-free oats as they are easily contaminated with wheat in the milling process, though oats are naturally without gluten.
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