Banana-rum-a flapjacks

The other day I was having this rum, brown sugar and banana based cocktail and I absolutely loved the flavour of it. I was thinking how I can turn that combination of flavours into a cake of some sort. Flapjack was my number one choice as it is seemed the best way to preserve the taste of banana for longer without it going all soggy and brown. The name came up when I was listening to the 90s Classic band called Bananarama while sipping my cocktail… Do you know them?

But let’s not get sidetracked from the main hero of this post! So I like to make things a little bit healthier by swapping some of the ‘not so good for you’ ingredients to make it a little bit more guilt free. Instead of butter I am using 100% coconut oil. It turned out to be one of those gems that is really worth adding to your daily cooking routines. It is very cheap, I paid £2.49 for a 500ml jar.

There are 3 interesting facts about coconut oil:
1. Coconut Oil Can Increase Your Energy Expenditure, Helping You Burn More Fat.
2. Coconut oil contains a lot of medium chain triglycerides, which are metabolized differently and can have therapeutic effects on several brain disorders.
3. Coconut Oil Can Improve Blood Cholesterol Levels and May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

If you are interested to read up more follow this link➡️http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

What I love about making flapjacks is that they are quick to make and pretty much everything happens in one pot. You can easily take them for a snack to work too. With the batch I made I added some pumpkin seeds but I really wanted to add some rum presoaked raisins. Unfortunately it didn’t happen because I was taking them for a party and the host hates raisins. It would make a perfect addition however flapjack tastes great without them too.

Ingredients:
175g rolled oats
100ml of coconut oil
100g of muscavado sugar
50ml of Havana club rum
Handful of pumpkin seeds
2 ripe bananas (mashed)
20g rum pre soaked raisins (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C. Melt the coconut oil in a medium size pan add mashed banana and sugar then take off the heat immediately. Stir in rum, oats and pumpkin seeds ( or raisins if you’re using them). Mix all together until well combined.

2. Pour the mixture into a square ovenproof dish (lined with baking parchment) and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!