Delicious and nutritious, these sugar-free banana and date flapjacks are a healthy and low-calorie treat, perfect for breakfast or as a snack on the go.
While the classic recipe includes loads of sugar, we made our flapjacks with only mashed bananas and date paste instead. And to make them even healthier, we didn't use any butter but opted for wholesome peanut butter.
This means these oat bars are vegan, gluten-free, low in sugars and fats. They have very little saturated fats and contain only natural, unrefined, and wholesome ingredients — all of this while still tasting sweet, rich, and chewy. You'll love them!
Dates and bananas are naturally sweet, while peanut butter is a great vegan alternative to butter and is lower in fats too. So when you blend these three ingredients together, you'll get a sweet and rich paste perfect for replacing sugar and butter in flapjacks.
Mix the date banana paste with oat flakes and transfer the dough into a tin. Level it with a spoon and bake it until crispy outside and chewy inside. And there you have it, tasty and healthy flapjacks ready for when you need a small treat.
Each date banana bar packs oats, nuts, fruit, and seeds. This means plenty of plant-based proteins, filling fibres, and slow-digesting carbs, which will keep you full and satisfied all morning long without nasty cravings. Super!
How do you make flapjacks healthy?
You can make flapjacks healthier by replacing butter and sugar with date paste, mashed bananas, and peanut butter. You'll have much more nutritious oats bars, which are actually good for you.
Dates and bananas are naturally sweet and provide lots of filling fibres, while peanut butter is a source of plant-based proteins and healthy unsaturated fats.
They're all wholesome and unprocessed ingredients, and together, they make a much healtheir alternative to butter and sugar in flapjacks.
How can I make flapjacks without butter?
Although butter gives richness and flavour, you don't need it to make flapjacks and you can use nut butter instead.
Peanut butter works really well as a butter replacement in flapjacks, and we used it in our recipe. But you can also use other nut spreads like almond butter or cashew butter.
Nut spreads are a healthy, dairy-free, and plant-based alternative to butter as they're lower in fats and saturated fats and pack lots of fibres and vegan proteins.
Are classic flapjacks vegan?
Classic flapjacks are not vegan as they're prepared with butter made from cow's milk. So, if you can't have dairy or you're following a plant-based diet, you can swap it with vegan butter or, even better, peanut butter.
Do I need sugar for flapjacks?
You don't necessarily need sugar to prepare flapjacks, especially if you want to make them healthier.
Sugar is used in flapjacks not only for sweetness but also as a binder.
When melted sugar cools down, it hardens, pretty much like caramel does, thus holding together the oat flakes in your flapjacks.
However, you can easily swap caster sugar with fruits like dates and bananas. They're sweet and nutritious, and you can blend them into a paste that will hold your flapjacks together perfectly.
In our recipe, we'll show you how to make the date paste from dry pitted dates, combine it with bananas, and use it as a sugar replacement for your healthy flapjacks.
Ingredients
| Pitted Dates | 200 g |
| Oat/Almond Milk | 100 mL |
| Ripe Bananas (peeled weight) | 200 g |
| Peanut Butter | 120 g |
| Jumbo Rolled Oat | 350 g |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp |
| Pumpkin Seeds | 30 g |
Step 1
Add the pitted dates to a bowl and cover them with boiling water.
Then, let them soak and soften for 15-20 min before draining them.
If you want, you can reserve a few dates, chop them into small bits, and add them later to the flapjack oat mix.
Step 2
Now, transfer the drained dates to a food processor and tip the oat milk, peeled bananas, and peanut butter.
Blitz all into a smooth and creamy mixture.
Make sure the bananas are very ripe as they will taste sweeter, and use peanut butter kept at room temperature as it will blend better with the other ingredients.
Step 3
In a large bowl, mix the oats with ground cinnamon and salt.
Then, incorporate the banana date paste, mixing until you have a uniform flapjack dough.
If you reserved the chopped dates, add them now to the oat mixture.
Step 4
Lightly grease a 20x20 cm (8x8 inches) baking tin. Then, line it with baking paper, pressing it down so that it adheres to the tray and you'll have perfectly shaped flapjacks.
Transfer the banana flapjack mixture into the prepared tin and press it down with the back of a spoon to compact it.
Then, sprinkle the surface with pumpkin seeds and press them down so they'll stick to the flapjack.
Step 5
Bake the date banana flapjack slab at 180°C (355°F) for 40 minutes.
Once ready, remove it from the tin and let it cool down completely on a wire rack.
Finally, slice it into square or rectangular flapjack bars.
Tips
For a nut-free version, you can swap peanut butter with any seed butter you like, like pumpkin seed or sunflower seed butter.
Store these healthy date flapjacks in an airtight glass or metal container for up to a week or freeze for one month.