Chocolate Banana Oaty Bites

All this wandering around winter wonderland makes one peckish! I wanted to bake something that would nourish, satisfy and be, most importantly, portable and easy to eat with gloves on. I raided the cupboard and found oats, first thought was flapjack. A couple of bananas were looking nice and ripe and Chris is always pestering me to put peanut butter in everything….these bites were designing themselves. As well as PB, bananas and rolled oats, these not-too-sweet bites are also made with dark chocolate and desiccated coconut packed into a neat ball that’s perfect for popping into a backpack for a wintry wander, or a summer hike for that matter. Not only that, but they’re bursting with energy, fibre, a bit of protein and they’re completely vegan.

Chocolate Banana Oaty Bites

oven 180 c / gas 4

baking sheet lined with parchment

• 2 ripe bananas
• 100 g dark chocolate
• 40 ml oil {I used rapeseed}
• 3 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 100 g desiccated coconut
• 125 g rolled oats
• 50 g golden caster sugar, or any fine unrefined sugar
• pinch salt

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, or in a microwave if you prefer. Mash the bananas in a large bowl, stir in the melted chocolate, the peanut butter and the oil. Once they’re combined add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. You should end up with a mixture that can be shaped in the balls, add a few more oats if it feels very wet, you may be using huge bananas!

Drop golf ball sized heaps onto your baking sheet. They look better if you don’t make them too smooth. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until they start to brown. Leave on the  baking sheet for 5 minutes to harden, they will be soft when you remove them from the oven. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. Easy huh!

You could amp up the nutrition even further by adding a couple of spoonfuls of ground flaxseeds.

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