There has been a jar of date syrup languishing at the back of my larder cupboard for many months after it was kindly given to me in conjunction with a beautiful Ottolenghi cookbook, as this is the kind of fancy ingredient he goes in for. Well I noticed the other day the syrup was not far off its use by date, and while I  pay very little heed to these warnings, it gave me the nudge I needed to finally open the stuff.

Wow. It is so dark, sticky and delicious, and being refined sugar free I can sort of convince myself of it’s health benefits….(?!)

So ever since I’ve been finding ways to use it, and mostly drizzling on porridge, yogurt and pancakes has been the way to go.

However I’m always trialling new flapjack recipes because I think they’re a great basic, filling and delicious snack which can be made much healthier with a few simple swops.

This recipe below is the outcome of the experiment with date syrup – and they are everything I like a flapjack to be.. soft, sticky and delicious. They contain only four ingredients, and if you don’t have any date syrup to hand, no bother, just use maple syrup or honey instead. They are refined sugar free, and if you use coconut oil they are dairy free too

Ingredients

100g date syrup (can be substituted for maple syrup or runny honey)

75g coconut oil or butter

2 ripe bananas

300g oats

Pinch of sea salt

Method

Heat the oven to 160 degrees (140 fan). Put the syrup and coconut oil or butter into a medium saucepan and gently heat until the mixture has melted. Mash in the two bananas, and then add the oats and the salt and mix well.

Grease a 20 x 20 cm baking pan with coconut oil or butter and then spoon the mixture in, smoothing it over on top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes in the pan, then cut into squares, but leave in the pan to cool completely before removing.