After cooling, ready to eat!
The amazing teacher that led my daughter’s parent-child, outdoor program this past year gave me this recipe. She gave me the scaffolding, shall we say? And, I made it my own.
Like she promised, it is a forgiving recipe. Too moist? Cook it a bit longer. The batter too dry? Add more wet ingredients.
It’s interesting that the unleavened oat bars reminded me of traditional, Scottish bannocks that I was just reading about. I’m sure my McNeill ancestors were making something similar (and yes, WAY simpler) to this many generations back. And, yes…without bananas and all the hoo-ha I’ve put in there!
I tweaked the recipe a good bit by breaking up the amount of coconut shreds with other dry ingredients such as psyllium husk whose mucilage (when moistened) can help the world-weary GIs of these modern days……..and I also fermented the oats the night before.
Just like at our outdoor program, my daughter enjoys these treats (as did all the other kiddos). Hubs even takes some to work sometimes. I nibble on them, gladly, as well!
Here’s the recipe step-by-step.
The Forgiving Oat Bars
1. Soak 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats in 1 cup of water with 1 spoon full of yogurt, kefir, or sourdough starter (I use fermented oat flour that I keep in the fridge) — let that sit overnight
2. In the morning, preheat oven to 350 and grease your pan; then add these ingredients to your fermented oats:
2 mashed bananas
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup psyllium husk
1/4 cup coconut shreds
1/4 cup almond meal
1 cup frozen blueberries (or whatever fruit you want)
1/3 chopped pumpkin seeds (I put mine in a spice grinder and chop coarsely)
1/4 tsp green, powdered stevia (optional, I always add it to mine)
3. Mix gently
4. Pour into your greased baking dish and pat down ingredients
5. Bake for about 45 min’s or until top browns
Lindsay Kolasa 