Raspberry and coconut crumb bars
I don't know about you, but I constantly have bananas go brown on me. I buy them envisioning pretty bowls of porridge and plates of honey-banana toast, and then suddenly a busy week flashes by and it's too late. Obviously, I'm not unhappy when it gets to glorious banana bread territory but there's only so much banana bread a girl can make. Instead, I started thinking about the role of the overripe banana, how it sweetens but also binds. Lately, I've also been hankering after crumb bars. So, after some delicious tinkering, I got these.
Crumb bars are super yummy but they also tend to be loaded with sugar, butter and flour. Using one overripe banana in the crumb element replaces a lot of the added sugar and butter, without making the banana flavour too prominent. I tested out a more traditional version with eggs and flour but realised they just weren't necessary. The oats taste so wonderful on their own and I almost prefer the more delicate structure of these bars, especially with the little bites of desiccated coconut woven in. I also replaced the traditional fruit jam filling with frozen raspberries, which I tossed with cornflour and a touch more sugar. While baking, the cornflour thickens the melting raspberry puddles into a slightly tart, very fresh jam that's just sweet enough. Yummers all round.
What I love about this recipe is how customisable it is. I'll share my blueberry version of these in the not-too-distant future, but you really can play around as you like. If, for example, you fancied Bakewell crumb bars, swap out the coconut with ground almonds and some or all of the vanilla extract with almond extract. I can already imagine how amazing that would taste.
I like these pretty soft, like the strawberry Nutrigain bars I used to buy at school, so I don't bake them for more than thirty minutes. But if you'd like the bars a little firmer or crisper, keep them in the oven for longer, with one beady eye on them to make sure they don't burn. Whatever you do, no matter how good it smells while this is baking, do not even try to cut these until they've cooled completely. Trust me, they're worth the wait.
Raspberry and coconut crumb bars
Makes 12 generous bars.
INGREDIENTS
1 medium overripe banana
1/3 cup butter or dairy-free spread, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats, certified gluten-free if necessary
1/2 cup desiccated coconut or unsweetened coconut flakes
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
3/4 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon sugar
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 9x5-inch loaf tin with baking paper.
In a large bowl, mash the banana with a fork until almost smooth. Add the melted butter, salt, brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla extract and mix well. Stir in the oats and desiccated coconut.
Spoon half the crumb mixture into the prepared ban, pressing down well with the back of a spoon until compact.
In a small bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with the cornflour and sugar. Sprinkle this evenly over the pan.
Add the other half of the crumb mixture over the raspberries, making sure to press down and level it out again with a spoon.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.
Notes: I use equal parts of golden syrup and brown sugar in the crumb mixture for a more flapjacky flavour and texture. You could substitute the golden syrup with set honey, but be aware that golden syrup is the better binding agent.
