These healthy, delicious oaty bars have to make you smile, packed full of fruit, seeds and with only 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp honey in the whole recipe, these really are a healthy alternative to a sugar laden flapjack.
They are gluten free (as long as the oats are gluten free of course), wheat free and dairy free too.
I baked these on slightly grey, possibly trying to rain, Bank Holiday Saturday and you know what, straight after they came out of the over the sun came out, little bars of sunshine they are 🙂
These would be great for lunchboxes, as breakfast bars or keep them handy when you need a snack and they will hopefully keep your hands out of the biscuit box.
Sunshine Bars
2013-05-04 12:54:58
Yields 12
A healthy, fruit, oaty bar packed with goodness, great for packed lunches, snacks or as an on the go breakfast.
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
73g
Yields
12
Amount Per Serving
Calories 194
Calories from Fat 46
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5g
8%
Saturated Fat 1g
3%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 3mg
0%
Total Carbohydrates 35g
12%
Dietary Fiber 4g
17%
Sugars 18g
Protein 4g
Vitamin A
4%
Vitamin C
5%
Calcium
3%
Iron
8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Ingredients
- 200g oats
- 100g apricots
- 100g dates
- 150g raisins
- 25g sunflower seeds
- 20g linseeds
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 mashed bananas
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5, grease and line a flapjack tin.
- Chop the apricots and dates.
- Mix the oats, dried fruit, sunflower seeds and linseeds together.
- Mash the bananas in a seperate bowl, add these to the mixture along with the oil.
- Heat the honey for 20 seconds in the microwave and add to the mix.
- Spoon into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cover for half of this time with foil or baking parchment to prevent the top layer of fruit burning.
https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/
Hi,
Your description in the first paragraph mentions this uses just 1 tbsp oil, however the ingredients list 2 tbsp. Which measurement is correct?
Thanks
Hi Rebecca. Sorry I’ve done the recipe with both but I now do 1 tbsp.
Looks delicious! What oil do you use? Would virgin coconut oil be ok?
Hi Louisa, thankyou, I used rapeseed oil but yes coconut oil would be fine. Hope you enjoy them.
What oil do you use? Would virgin coconut oil be sufficient?
P.S. Although slightly crumbly, they taste delicious. I think next time, I will cut down the raisins and add a little more oil. 🙂
Hi. I found they had far too much dried ingredients to wet so didn’t bind very well.
I note on other recipes you have much less fruit and add egg and or butter.
I seem to be the only one who failed so must have been me 🙁
Hi chris, sorry to hear that they were crumbly. It may be you needed larger bananas or riper ones? I find it needs large bananas to bind properly. I’m glad they tasted good 🙂
I just made these for the first time and wow! A delicious alternative to the usual sugar filled flapjack. I was sceptical about how well the ingredients would bind but it turned out great! Thanks!
YAY so pleased to hear it, thankyou so much for letting me know x
Made these fresh tonight,didn’t have seeds so added flaked almonds instead. Just tried one and they are d’lish,nice crunch with the added almonds and they were slightly warm and fudgey!! Wil def make again,thanks for the recipe.
Hi, I love these!!
I am on a calorie controlled diet and was wondering if you have a rough idea of how many calories there are in one portion?
Thanks Annie xx
Hi Annie, I will work it out for you and let you know. Priya
Hi, these are really lovely and very easy to make with the kids. Have you worked out the calories in each slice? Thanks.
Hi Vicky, so great to hear you like the recipe 🙂 Yes the nutrition info is at the end of the recipe now – I think it is around 200kcal if you make 12 from the recipe.
Linseeds uncrushed – will allow you to benefit partially from their fibre content, but you absorb little of the beneficial omega-3s. To improve the benefit you get from the healthy oil content you’ll will need to crush them gently, exposing the centres of the seeds, in a pestle and mortar.
Thanks Peter, a great tip!
I was looking for a recipe to use up some chopped organic apricots and stumbled upon your site…just perfect, thank you. I ground up the linseeds in a coffee grinder and used date syrup instead of honey (as I didn’t have any honey in) I’m taking them for my walking group tomorrow…thank you x
Thankyou so much for your comment. I really hope your walking group enjoy them. Date syrup sounds delicious.
Sounds great, but don’t think I should eat them all in one go! Will they freeze??
I haven’t frozen them myself but they should freeze fine. Enjoy!
These sound really nice, how long will they keep for?
Thanks Karen, they are best eaten in 3 days.
I really enjoyed these! I do a lot of sport so I’m always looking for healthy snacks to take with me. I swapped the dates for cherries (just because I had them) and I used mixed seeds and less raisins than suggested. It worked really well and they are very tasty!
So pleased you like them Yvonne 🙂 I think I may make some myself this afternoon with the toddler.
Ooh yum! And with agave syrup instead of honey, this could be vegan too!
Thanks for linking up. PS there’s a new #recipeoftheweek linky up now if you have something new to add 🙂
Oh lovely looking stuff – and they would be great for the children’s lunchboxes too!
Thankyou, we’ve just been munching on them this morning for a snack 😉