Blueberry and Banana Oaty Bites: Dairy Free, Egg Free, Soya Free, Vegan

In the eternal quest for bakes the whole family will enjoy, that meet the needs of my CMPA, egg allergic baby, I came across a recipe for a Banana, oat and chocolate munchy bar on Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb and ginger. Whilst that recipe looked very tasty it’s near impossible to get dairy and soya free chocolate, and what you can get is too expensive to use in cake (Booja Booja, I’m looking at you). I thought I’d adapt the original recipe to suit our needs allergy wise and make it a bit more suitable for a weaning treat.

This is a fabulously easy recipe that you could easily change up to suit your family’s tastes. It's much like an oaty version of a banana bread or a cakey version of a flapjack - not unlike my Porridge fingers for big people.

Blueberry and Banana Oaty Bites: Dairy Free, Egg Free, Soya Free, Vegan

Serves 12 (or 24 if all being used for babies)

2¼ cups Porridge Oats

½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

½ tsp Baking powder

¼ tsp Salt (just a pinch if using Kosher or sea salt)

1 tsp sweet mixed spice

3 overripe Bananas

1 pot Apple puree (the type for Babies) or ¼ cup of cooked down Bramleys

2 tsp Vanilla extract

¼ cup Maple syrup

½ cup Blueberries

Grease a 9”x9” Brownie pan, and line with a long strip, the width of the tin, and 3 times the length

Preheat the oven to 160ºC

Blitz the oats in a food processor until they are rough flour

Pour into a mixing bowl, add the Bicarb, Baking powder, Salt and sweet mixed spice. Give a quick mix to combine the dry ingredients.

Break the bananas into chunks and pop into the food processor, add the Maple Syrup, fruit pot and Vanilla. Blitz until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add the Blueberries, and stir to combine.

Pour this into the prepared tin, smooth out the top, and bake for 20 minutes at 160ºC (Check at 15 mins)

When the top is golden and the bake feels firm to the touch, remove and leave to cool in the tin.

When cool, use the strip of baking paper to easily remove from the tin.

Slice into bars, this makes 12.

Enjoy with a cup of Tea, or if you are little, half a bar with a sippy cup of Oat milk.

These freeze beautifully - I halve the bars, and much like I do for pancakes separate them with little square of greaseproof paper before popping in a freezer bag. Then it's just a case of defrosting at room temperature.