Banana Nut Snack Bars. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe

One of my favorite snack food bars, Banana nut bars from odwalla suddenly were out of stock everywhere for 2 months or so. And I started snacking on nuts on the road or everyday snack time. Too many nuts and me do not go well together. Breakouts and jiggly arms. nuff said. 

So I decided I needed to make some snack bars. So here are these snack bars. Bananas, Oats, Dates, walnuts, cashews, hemp, spices. done. 

Make a batch and keep these handy. I kept these very simple. You can add in other dried fruit like cherries, apricots, strawberries, blueberries etc. Add other seeds and nuts. 

These granola bars are refined sugar free, can be made oil-free.



More food/protein Bars and snacks. all GF 
Super Seed Chocolate Protein bars
Mojito Snack balls. with or without alcohol
Nut Butter Chocolate Chunk Protein bar



Banana Nut Bars
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy, gluten, yeast, refined sugar. Can be made oil-free and nut-free

Makes 8 - 10 4 inch by 1.5 inch bars 
Ingredients: 
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves powder
a generous pinch of nutmeg
2 tsp coconut oil
2 cups old fashioned Oats (use certified gluten-free if needed)
3/4 to 1 cup dates (depends on how sweet you like the bars)
3/4 cup walnuts or use a combination of walnuts and cashews (use a combination of seeds to make nut-free)
1/4 cup hemp seeds

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, mash the bananas and mix in the vanilla, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and oil.
In a food processor, add oats, walnuts, dates and hemp seeds and pulse to make a coarse mixture. you can keep it chunky by adding chopped nuts later. 
Add this to the banana mixture a cup at a time and mix. Add more oats if needed. 
Press the mixture onto parchment lined sheet into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 7 to 10 minutes or until golden on the edges and dry to touch in the center. Let cool completely before slicing.
Store in the refrigerator for upto a week or freeze. 

Use other dried fruit like cherries, apricots, strawberries, blueberries etc for variations.