Quick and easy, 4 ingredient banana and honey oaty bakes!

I had some bananas left over from the market groceries that have gone soft so I was thinking of ways to use them, and I haven't posted many healthy treats yet, so I thought I'd make some oaty bakes/bars. It's a great way to use up over-ripe or soft and bruised bananas. These are super easy and only require 3/4 ingredients! But of course you can add you own, such as nuts and dried fruits for extra flavour. To make this recipe simpler, I've used 'mug' measurements so that you don't have to measure anything out or weigh any ingredients. Also, I actually used plain porridge oats for this recipe, which actually work really well, so don't worry about the kind of oats you use.

You will need:

• 2 large ripe bananas 
• 1-2 mugs of oats
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• A square of baking paper/a greased tin

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to around 190 degrees. Take a square of baking paper and place on a tray, or grease a tray well using butter followed by covering with flour.
2. Remove the peel from the banana and place both bananas in a large mixing bowl. Use a potato crusher to mush the bananas until you get a thick paste with minimal lumps.
3. Depending on whether you want moist bars, or crunchy ones adapt the number of oats. I used just one mug because I wanted my bars to be quite moist and more of a dessert, than a crunchy bar. But if you're after bars to pack for work etc, use two mugs of oats. Add the oats to the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Add two tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix well again.
4. Empty the mixture onto the baking paper and pat the mixture into a square/rectangle shape if you are looking to make bars. Or get creative and fashion the mixture into shapes using cookie cutters.
5. Place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Regularly check that the bakes aren't burning. If they look golden-brown before 25 minutes, remove them from the oven. If the edges darken, this is not a problem.
6. After 25 minutes the bakes may not look golden-brown on the top, so for a crunchier outside and a more moist inside (depending on the number of oats used), you can grill the top of the bakes on a medium heat for 3 minutes. To do this, remove the bake from the baking paper by turning it upside down onto a plate. Quickly grease the plate with some butter and flour and place the bake onto the greased tray (if tray already greased and paper not used, this isn't necessary). Place under the grill on the highest level for around 3 minutes, making sure that it doesn't burn.
7. After they have turned golden-brown on the top, remove from the oven and turn upside down onto a plate to cool until serving. Or serve warm with ice cream or frozen yogurt as a delicious dessert.
8. Drizzle with honey or sweetener and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and please don't forget to leave your comments below! :-)