I always have bananas In the house as they are a great healthy snack to have and can give you a little boost of energy when you need it most, generally in the afternoon.
From time to time though they go a bit too ripe for me and I usually end up throwing them away, which I hate doing as I like to use everything that I buy. So I thought is there anything I can use them for. Obviously cakes sprung to mind straight away but I didn't really want to start going down that route, but did fancy making something that was a little more healthy. My wife then came home one day and told me how she had a had a great lunch at one of those new trendy Tea bars that are springing up everywhere at the moment. She is a sucker for kitch tearooms that are a little different from the norm and told me how she had had a great lunch followed by a wheat free banana flapjack. She then produced a little for me to try which she had saved.
I was really surprised at how tasty and moist it was and wondered if I could recreate it with my over ripe Bananas?
The next day off I popped to the shops to buy myself some oats so I could try to recreate those lovely flapjacks. As soon as I got home I started straight away.
I had made flapjacks before so had a slight idea of quantities, weights and measures but was a little sceptical as to what to do with wheat free ones. There was only one thing for it. Bang it all in a bowl and hope for the best.
My ingredients were
350g of Oats
200g Peanut Butter
2 very ripe bananas
4 Tablespoons of Golden syrup
4 tablespoons of Artificial sweetener
I used Peanut butter for two reasons, I love peanut butter and bananas and secondly I didn't have enough butter. The decision to use artificial sweetener was a last minute one as I was trying to make them as healthy as I could.
I mashed the bananas with the peanut butter then added all the other ingredients and mixed until all the ingredients were combined. At this stage it did actually look like flapjack mixture and I was quite optimistic at how they would turn out.
I then poured the mixture into a 7"x7" cake tin that had been lightly greased and placed in a pre heated oven gas mark 5/180c for 25 minutes.
A quick brew later, the tantalising smell of peanut butter and bananas filled the room and my flapjacks were ready. So I took them out of the oven and sliced them into rectangles, keeping them in the tin. Half an hour later they had cooled down and could be tipped out. The suspense was killing me, were they moist enough, had I got the recipe right..........One big bite later and I wasn't disappointed. It is rare I get things right on the first attempt but they were fantastic. I would even say they were batter than the one my wife gave me.
I think these will be a regular make in my house from now on , although I think I may have to hide them from my wife as I kept catching her sneaking into the kitchen and having sneaky bites of them.
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