Vegan Treat Worth Trying

Top to bottom: A nice snack of Chocolate Banana Oat Bars, images from Easter Sunday: Coconut Cupcakes on an antique cake tray, Deviled Eggs with Italian Seasoned Salt on a heirloom egg tray.
The recipe I'm giving you today defies categorization and expectations as it works double-duty as a breakfast bar and dessert treat and is vegan and at the same time sinfully delicious. What sort of dish could fill this multi-task bill? These Chocolate Banana Oat Bars from Clotilde Dusoulier's Chocolate and Zucchini blog do indeed. The batter doesn't even require a mixer, and so with a few rounds with a wooden spoon and a pat down in a square pan, these bars are ready to bake and eat. Their texture is super moist due to the bananas and the chunks of melty chocolate deceive your taste buds into believing you are indulging in something quite decadent when actually these bars are quite healthy. I was only initially turned off by the recipe because of having to buy some ingredients that weren't already in my pantry, such as almond meal and grated coconut, but once these items are bought, anytime you have ripe bananas becomes a great excuse to treat yourself at any time of day with this yummy recipe. I hope you have fun with it!

Wholesome Banana Chocolate Breakfast Bars

- 200 grams (2 cups) rolled oats or mixed rolled grains
- 60 grams (2/3 cup) ground almonds, a.k.a. almond meal
- 30 grams (1/3 cup) dried, unsweetened grated coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 120 grams (4 1/4 ounces) good-quality bittersweet chocolate
- 4 very ripe, medium bananas, about 400 grams (14 ounces) when peeled
- 1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) whole almond butter (substitute olive oil, or slightly warmed coconut oil)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a medium baking dish with vegetable oil.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, ground almonds, coconut, and salt. Set aside. Chop the chocolate so the largest pieces are about the size of a chocolate chip. Set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla, and almond butter, and mash thoroughly using a potato masher. Add the oats mixture and mix well. Fold the chocolate in gently.

Pour into the prepared baking dish, level the surface, and slip into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until the top is set and golden-brown. Let cool completely before slicing into bars. If you're not serving all the bars at once, I suggest you cut out only what you need. Cover the rest with foil and keep at room temperature.

*From the French/English Zucchini and Chocolate blog http://chocolateandzucchini.com/

*I've used the olive oil suggested as a substitute for the almond butter, and the bars maintained a pleasant consistency and good taste.