Trade in your cereal for these delicious vegan oatmeal breakfast bars made with toasty nuts, dried fruit and peanut butter. Makes a great make ahead breakfast to go or midday healthy snack for the entire family.
In a large bowl mash the bananas and combine with the apple sauce, vanilla, peanut butter, sweetener, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter, 1//4 cup apple sauce, 4 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 bananas, 1.5 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg, 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Add the cashew milk, oats, nuts, dried fruit and baking powder. Mix all the ingredients until combined and a thick mixture is formed.
2.5 cups quick oats, 1 cup toasted walnuts, 1/2 cup dried fruit, 1/2 cup cashew milk, 1 tsp baking powder
Line a 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper. (Leave a couple of inches of overhang to the sides to serve as handles).
Transfer the oatmeal bar mixture to the baking pan and using a spatula spread it out and flatten the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until set in the center. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to completely cool before slicing. (If slicing seems messy just refrigerate for about an hour and you should be good to go).
Notes
Storage - Slice your oatmeal bars into desired sizes and individually wrap them in parchment paper before storing in the fridge for up to a week or so. They can also be frozen for up to four months and defrosted on the kitchen counter for about an hour.
Variation - If chocolate is your muse feel free to swap the nuts or the dried fruit for vegan chocolate chips. Candied pecans make such a decadent treat as well.
Nut Free Adaptation - Swap the peanut butter for sesame or sunflower butter, replace the nuts with more dried fruit, hemp seeds or sunflower seeds.