Healthy Oat Bar/Flapjack Recipes Please!

[tahinitoast]

Hi I'm looking for the holy grail (mix)... healthy ish flapjack or oat bars, ideally with no refined sugar or butter. Does this exist or will it be horrendous?

Bumping for you because I'd also like to know. My little one has cmpa so would love to know if I could make a nice one😁

Watching with interest!

Presumably you'll have to use some kind of fat to help them stick together though, and butter is better than most of the alternatives- at least it's a natural product!

I've seen some using nut butters or bananas as binders, which I'm not adverse to, I just don't want to use syrups or sugars if possible, dried fruit would sweeten it enough for me I think.

The organix bars are dairy free but they’re made with rasins so not good for teeth.

He does have the little organix flapjack bites but they're so bloody expensive. I'm crap at baking but I'd definitely give it a go if I could find a dairy free one

Just found this one from Joe Wicks which looks promising, although could easily sub out the protein powder I think.

Would plant based butter work the same as normal butter?

Deliciously Ella banana breakfast bars
They are lovely - I make them all the time with over ripe bananas

https://theveryhungrystudent.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/deliciously-ellas-banana-breakfast-bars/

Any nut butter and plant milk works. I chuck in a handful of coca nibs as well.

Oh this sounds lovely thank you!

If you want healthy then it's called porridge. But it fails badly on the 'bar' part.

Add chia and flax seeds, dried fruit and nuts.

My little one will not eat a bowl of porridge so flapjacks or oat bars is the only way for me 😅

Nigella breakfast bars I've seen linked to here before. Condensed milk to bind together better than ultra processed non dairy milks and powders in my opinion

Would plant based butter work the same as normal butter?

I don't know tbh. Personally I would never use plant-based butter as it's all highly processed and therefore much worse for you than real butter. Plus I'm not sure how well it melts/heats etc. I really dislike the taste of them anyway.

Butter works well as it solidifies when it cools down after cooking, which helps the flapjack hold together. You could use a proper oil, like olive oil, but I don't think it would stick thongs together as well. Ooh - how about coconut oil? That might work quite well.

Nope, I'm not after porridge.

when you say "plant based butter" are you talking about margarine or similar? Because nut butters, which are often used in flapjakes or oatbars, are definitely NOT worse than butter in terms of being highly processed (assuming you don't get ones that are filled with sugar, additives or palm oil).

This recipe that I use does have sugar, but it's a relatively low amount vs the overall recipe. I usually get about 16 bars. I sometimes drizzle melted dark chocolate over the top to make them more of a "treat". They also freeze well.

2 cups oats
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
1.5tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (any type - I usually use oat).
1/4 cup melted butter or oil
1tsp vanilla essence.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately then combine in a bowl and leave to stand for about 20 minutes.

Stir in a couple of tablespoons peanut or other nut butter (optional) and roughly 1-2 cups of mixed nuts/seeds/dried fruit as per your preference.

Pour into a lined baking dish and bake at 180 for about 30-35 minutes.

I've got no choice as little one can't have dairy so butter is out

Coconut oil works well instead of butter and you can add almond butter, coconut flakes and chopped cherries . delicious

Oh chopped cherries are an inspired addition 😍😋

Lots of recipes can use oil instead of butter. It's worth looking for those specifically as I suspect some recipes work better with oil as a replacement than others. I have had many muffin recipes over the years with oil vs butter.

If you want to use a dairy free "butter", I recommend buying Stork in the baking blocks (not the ones for spreading on bread). Then use slightly less than you woulld with regular butter. Eg I make chocolate chip cookies and the recipe calls for 125g butter and I use about 110g stork.

Also, ignore the self righteous people who will tell you that these spreads/plant-butters are bad for you. Of course it's probably not ideal to eat too many of them. But when you have a child who can't eat dairy but really really wants the same sort of treats as their friends have... you do what you hvae to do. The chocolate chip cookies I mention above are now super popular and are requested by her friends when they do sleepovers/have parties. I keep a stock in the freezer for spontaneous play dates too. A couple of margarine based chocolate chip cookies every now and again isn't doing any harm. glares at wanker judgemental big brother who came out with this crap midway through a lovely christmas dinner in which I had catered for his family's various food preferences but still thought he could judge me for offering a dairy free alternative for dd

Oh lovely thank you 😊

Thank you, I really don't care what anyone thinks about what I feed my child. Appreciate the recipe. Your brother sounds like a tool🤭

@Devilsmommy let's just say he has a lot of .... opinions. It can be exhausting.

I was a bit floored when I mentioned DS' ADHD and how the meds were really helping and he asked me if I knew about the terrible long term side effects. I was like ,"Um, have you got a child with ADHD and have you done any research in the last 5 years on ADHD meds".

He's not a bad person overall. But my SIL is clearly a saint putting up with him!