I murdered some bananas last week. They died a long slow death on my kitchen counter. I’m likely going to have to bury them in the backyard compost heap in order to avoid an infestation of fruit flies. I blame the blog—I spent all week writing rather than eating!
All joking aside, I really dislike wasting food. Unfortunately, my entire family (myself included) likes bananas when they are slightly on the green side. As soon as they start to get leopard spots, we lose interest. Thankfully, we eat a ton of bananas, so they don’t often have time to get to that stage. But, when they do, I usually scramble to make Dino-Pops or smoothies or some other recipe that uses overripe bananas. Lately, I’ve had a hankering for banana bread. So, this morning I turned to my recipe for Healthy Banana Oat Squares.
I love this recipe because it’s incredibly healthy and it’s simple and easy to make. Banana Oat Squares are the perfect on-the-go breakfast food, containing all the nutritional benefits of oatmeal, bananas and eggs without any of the mess. And, it’s gluten-free and refined-sugar free, too! When we travel, I often make a large batch of this ahead of time and take it with us for breakfasts in the hotel room. It saves us both time and money. So, without further ado, here is the recipe:
Healthy Banana Oat Squares
Equipment
- food processor
- 8×11 glass baking dish
- Oven
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 cups oatmeal
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup real maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coconut oil for greasing the baking dish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease a baking dish using the ½ tsp coconut oil.
- Pour dry ingredients (oatmeal and baking powder) into the food processor and process on low until it resembles course flour. This should take maybe 1-2 minutes, max.
- Add wet ingredients (peeled bananas, eggs, vanilla and maple syrup) to the dry ingredients in the food processor. Process on low for another 1-2 minutes until the batter is smooth.
- Pour batter into a low-sided greased baking dish. I've used dishes that were 8×11.5 or 9×9. Both sizes work equally well. (The smaller the size of the pan, the fewer squares you will get, and they are usually a bit denser. You also may need to increase the bake time by a couple minutes when using a smaller size.)
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F.
- After baking, let cool for a few minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
This recipe is simple, easy, nutritious and delicious. And it makes your house smell divine while it’s baking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Happy baking!
PS) This may seem like a strange post script, but I wanted to add one small caveat: my cats are obsessed with this recipe. I don’t know why (I do know they all love oatmeal for some bizarre reason). But you may need to try to keep them in a different room while making this if you don’t want their interference. While I was trying to take photos of the squares this morning, my cat, Moses, kept trying to lick them. I don’t think it will hurt the cats (but I’m not a vet, so no guarantees!) and it certainly makes the entire process more entertaining, but it’s not very hygienic!
