Easy Banana-Oat Snack Bars

As many of you know I'm a biologist, and that often means long days in the field, and long times in between full meals. 

I've tried many home-made bars in my time, but when I tried these ones, made by my co-worker, I got really excited - they were so yummy, filling, and just the right texture! 

This recipe is super loose/adaptable, the most important thing is the general proportions, but feel free to exchange different nuts / seeds / dried fruits as you see fit! If you need to make these nut-free just swap out the walnuts and almonds for more seeds (or chocolate chips, if you’re feeling wild)!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana, fresh or frozen (3-4 large)
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries or blueberries
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, jumbo raisins, or dried chopped apricots
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup flax seeds
• 1/2 cup pepita seeds
• 1 cup almonds, chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan with butter or oil
3. In a large bowl, mash the banana until smooth. Measure to ensure you have 1 1/2 cups
4. In a separate bowl mix the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and any other spices you want. 
5. Stir the dry spice mixture, vanilla, and honey into the bananas.
6. Place the oats into a food processor or blender and pulse until the oats are coarsely chopped, stir completely into the mashed bananas.
7. Stir the dried fruit, walnuts, flax and pepita seeds, & almonds into the banana-oat mixture until thoroughly combined.
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish. With a fork or lightly wet hands press down the mixture until even and compact. 
9. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until firm and lightly golden along the edges. 
10. Let the dish cool for at least 10 minutes
11. Slice the slab into bars either using a knife, pizza cutter, or bench knife. 
12. These can be served immediately as a snack or saved a parsed throughout a week.
13. Leftovers can be stored in a tupperware in the fridge for about a week, or in a freezer for 4-6 weeks.

Other Ideas:

• Dried fruit can be subbed out for chocolate chips
• You can sub in/out pretty much any nuts used in this recipe
• Hempseed hearts are a great sub for the flaxseed

This recipe is adapted from Oh She Glows Feel Good Hearty Granola Bars, which was adapted from Anjali's Oat Snack Bars recipe, which was originally adapted from Faith's 4-Ingredient Banana Oat Bars.