Super easy egg-free breakfast bars (Vegan)
Oats. These are such a debatable product. For any argument in favour you will find an argument against. Whilst I used them a lot my early stages of healthy cooking I then decided to ditch them completely when I was really into Paleo diet. They are grains and sometimes they do make me feel bloated. Now, as with anything else I think that moderation is key and I have introduced them again into my diet in view of their high nutrient content and the filling sensation that they provide. Oats provide to be a good breakfast choice due to their high content of dietary fibre and this combined with the naturally occurring Beta glucan provide a greater feeling of fullness, much more than any other cereal.
If you are gluten intolerant you will be happy to find a range of gluten-free oats on the market. In reality all oats are gluten free, but buying certified gluten free oats will guarantee that the oats did not suffer any cross contamination.
If on the other hand you are strict paleo replace the amount of oats with other nuts like almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts or macadamia nuts. If you are interested in more Paleo recipes, also known as, grain free, dairy free, and caveman diet recipes perhaps you would be interested in these books. I love them:
You will be pleased to realise that I have used bananas to bind these bars together rather than eggs or honey. I was so happy with the result too. This will benefit both people looking for vegan recipes and also people wishing to omit eggs due to high cholesterol levels. I am in love with how these bars turned out because for me their texture looks and feels like conventional flap-jacks (cereal bars), just with much less sugar!
- ¼ cup or 40g coconut oil
- 1 cup or 200g dates
- 2 large bananas or 350g with skin on bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (use this healthier version)
- 2 cups or 180g oats
- ½ cup or 70g pistachios (use raw unsalted kernels)
- ½ cup or 30g walnuts
- ½ cup or 70g sunflower seeds
- ½ cup or 25g cranberries (make your own using this recipe)
- Preheat the oven at 180°C.
- Purée the bananas using the ‘S’ blade of a food processor until smooth.
- Add in the dates and keep blending until they become finely chopped in very small pieces.
- Then add in the melted coconut and vanilla essence and mix/pulse with the food processor.
- Add in the oats and nuts to the mixture and pulse again with food processor until most of the nuts are chopped and well combined, scrape the sides of the food processor. Keep pulsing until all the mixture is well combined and a bit sticky. Take the blade out and fold in the dehydrated cranberries by hand, using a spoon.
- Line a square baking dish with oven paper, then form a layer with the mixture. Flatten out using the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, taking care not to burn.
- When cool, cut into bars using a sharp knife. I had 10 average size bars.
