Baby flapjacks

Ingredients 50ml coconut oil, 1 banana, 150g oats, 75g mixed seeds (I like pumpkin, linseed, poppyseed, sunflower and flax seeds) 1 tsp vanilla essence, 50g dried fruit (I like cranberries & apricots but figs, raisins & dates are also great.)

Makes: 12 Preparation: 45 minutes

I adore flapjacks and granola for the same reason - the smell and flavour of those gorgeous toasted oats. Absolutely mouthwatering.
As a follow on from my baby breakfast muffins, which are sugar free and very low in fat, these flapjacks are also baby friendly in that unlike traditional flapjacks which are full of butter and syrup, these are bound by banana and coconut oil and stuffed full of glorious seeds and dried fruit instead of things that will make your kids hyper and unhealthy. So if you or your kidlets fancy a sweet treat that travels well then these will not disappoint.

1) Culinary coconut oil is usually solid at room temperature, so melt it gently in a pan to return it to liquid form and stir in the vanilla essence.

2) Mash the banana with a fork, or puree in a food processor and whisk into the oil until it has been fully incorporated. If you have an extra sweet tooth you can add a little honey too but it really doesn't need it if your banana is ripe.

3) Stir in the oats, dried fruit and seeds and allow to rest whilst the oven pre-heats to gas mark 5.

4) Rub a little of the coconut oil around your baking tray to grease it, then press the mixture firmly into the tray ensuring that it is packed as tightly as possible to allow it to bind fully in the oven and not fall apart when cut into bars.

5) Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown, then carefully turn out onto a cooling rack (it should just slide off the tray but if you've used a deep one, try putting the cooling rack over the top and just flipping it over) and slice into bars whilst still warm. Once cool they can be eaten or stored for up to a week.

Baby Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients 75g butter/oil, 125ml orange/apple juice, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 2 bananas, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp honey (or agave syrup), 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 250g self-raising flour, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 100g dried cranberries, 100g mixed seeds.

Makes: 16 Preparation: 45 minutes

OK, so this is not a baby recipe. Shaddap, it's not. It's NOT OK. It's a recipe for muffins which are sugar free and if you want them to be, dairy free. Healthy seeded breakfast muffins that are totally delicious and I just happen to feed to my twelve month old son... 

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190 degrees and add the cranberries to the orange/apple juice.

2) Add the bananas, vanilla essence and honey to a blender and puree thoroughly. Add the eggs and melted butter/oil and pulse again until completely combined

3) Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarb of soda, then mix in the seeds.

4) Pour the puree in with the dry ingredients, add the juice and cranberries and mix roughly.

5) Spoon into muffin cases and add to a muffin tin, sprinkling some extra seeds onto the top. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the tops begin to colour and a skewer inserted to the middle cupcake comes out clean.

No bake cake: Banoffee

Ingredients 200ml double cream, 30g butter, 60g muscovado sugar, 1 banana, 1 pancake.

Serves: 1 Preparation: 1 hour 15 minutes

I was recently sent some of the lovely Abra-ca-Debora pancakes for a foodspiration challenge and had a lot of fun with the concept of "no bake cakes." My interpretation was to quarter the pancakes and layer with toffee and banana, topped with whipped cream to form a single slice of banoffee cake. Abra-ca-FABULOUS.

1) Melt the sugar in a pan, then add the butter and 100ml of the cream. Stir continually until a caramel sauce has formed. Set aside to cool, then chill in the fridge for an hour to form the thicker toffee.

2) Peel and slice the banana into 1/2cm discs, then spread the toffee sauce onto the pancake and top with slices of banana. Layer with more pancake, toffee and banana.

3) Whip the remaining 100ml cream and pipe onto the top.

Peanut butter & banana porridge

Ingredients Porridge oats, milk (I like almond milk), peanut butter (I like Whole Earth Foods), honey (or agave syrup), banana

Preparation: 10 minutes

This hardly seems worth writing as a recipe as there really isn't much cooking involved, but as a combination that everyone should try... my god yes!
The salty, heady flavour of peanut butter, the gooey banana which melts into the porridge and that extra sweet contrast of the honey makes this the ultimate breakfast for me. Especially on a snowy day like today.

1) Add the milk and oats to a pan and stir on a low heat for 5 minutes, allowing the oats to swell with milk and form porridge.

2) Slice 1 banana per person and add to the porridge along with a tablespoon of peanut butter per person. Stir through and serve drizzled with honey.

Peanut butter & banana flapjacks

Ingredients 1 banana, 2 tbsp peanut butter (I like Whole Earth Foods), 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup peanuts, 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, tsp honey (or agave syrup).

Serves: 8 Preparation: 20 minutes

These are without a doubt the world's best banana and peanut butter flapjacks. Chewy and crunchy and sweet and savoury... and surprisingly healthy as baked goods go!

1) Mash the banana and peanut butter with a fork and add in the other ingredients

2) Using a tablespoon, portion out the flapjacks and drop onto baking parchment. I think these work best as rough cookie shapes because they crisp up better, but you could spoon onto a tray and cut out flapjack bars.

3) Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees

Banana nut flapjacks

Ingredients 1 banana, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup sultanas, 1/4 cup toasted almond flakes, 1 tbsp dessicated coconut, pinch cinnamon.

Serves: 8 Preparation: 20 minutes

These totally tropical vegan flapjacks are ridiculously quick and simple and consist literally of oats, bananas, nuts and whatever else you want to bulk them up with. I chose sultanas and coconut but you could substitute different nuts and different dried fruits - or add in some spices or even chocolate chips. My next recipe (for the world's best banana and peanut butter cookies) which will cause you to WEEP for joy when you try them was derived from this concept.

1) Mash the banana with a fork and add in the other ingredients

2) Using a tablespoon, portion out the flapjacks and drop onto baking parchment. I think these work best as rough cookie shapes because they crisp up better, but you could spoon onto a tray and cut out flapjack bars.

3) Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees

Banana scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 50g muscovado sugar, 75ml buttermilk, 2 bananas, pinch cinnamon.

Serves: 8 preparation: 30 minutes

I adore the flavour and scent of banana - so sweet and musky and mildly tropical. These scones have a wonderful texture and it's a good way to introduce flavour for those who don't like dried fruit.

1) First peel and pulverise the bananas in a blender, or by mashing with a fork.

2) Sift the flour, cinnamon and sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3) Mix the buttermilk and banana in with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed.

4)  Roll out the dough on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with the last drizzles of the milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Banana pancakes

Ingredients    2 very ripe bananas, 1 cup plain flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tbsp honey, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup crushed pecan nuts, 1/2 cup milk

Serves: 6 (Scotch pancake style) 12 (crepe style) Preparation: 40 minutes


I'm going to deviate away from culinary references here and turn to the world of music. Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes is one of my favourite of his songs and every time I hear it it gets stuck in my head and I have an overwhelming compulsion to make banana pancakes. These work best in my opinion as a thick stack of scotch pancakes, drizzled with honey but The Boy demolished them before I could take a picture! So here's a crepe style made with the dregs of batter... 


1) Whisk the eggs with the milk, honey and vegetable oil and pour over the dry ingredients, whisking until they are combined.


2) Blend or mash the banana and add to the batter until incorporated. Leave the batter to rest for at least 30 minutes and then stir through.


3) Heat a non-stick frying pan until very hot, then add a small knob of butter. Pour in one ladle of batter (if you want crepes, quickly turn the pan off the heat to coat the base evenly with the batter, then return to the job) and cook for about one minute, until the base is lightly browned. I like to use a spatula or palette knife to just loosen the edges of the pancake - once the air gets under it you will find it does not stick to the pan but slide about which helps it to flip!

4) Flip over the pancake (if you have a clumsy wrist, slide the pancake onto a plate, then tip the pan over the plate and turn it upside down. No one will ever know!

5) Once the pancake has cooked on both sides, serve with a drizzle of honey

Pancakes - Maple & pecan with banana

Ingredients 100g plain flour, 2 eggs, 210ml milk, 90ml water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, butter, maple syrup, banana, 20g crushed pecans.

Makes: 6 pancakes Preparation: 40 minutes


Maple & pecan are a perfect flavour combination and the sweetness of banana really compliments the smoky, nuttiness but this recipe is just as much about pancake texture as it is about flavour. Simply put, grinding nuts into your pancakes makes for pancake heaven!


1) Mix the flour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Grind the pecan nuts in a mortar and pestle and add to the flour.


2) Measure 90ml water in a pyrex jug, then top it up to 300ml with milk.
Beat the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon and gradually beat in the milk and water mixture until smooth.


3) Stir in the vegetable oil and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour.


4) Heat a non-stick frying pan until very hot, then add a small knob of butter. Pour in one ladle of batter, quickly turning the pan off the heat to coat the base evenly with the batter. Return to the hob and cook for about one minute, until the base is lightly browned. I like to use a spatula or palette knife to just loosen the edges of the pancake - once the air gets under it you will find it does not stick to the pan but slide about which helps it to flip!


5) Flip over the pancake (if you have a clumsy wrist, slide the pancake onto a plate, then tip the pan over the plate and turn it upside down. No one will ever know!


6) Once the pancake has cooked on both sides, serve with sliced banana in the middle and a drizzle of maple syrup on the top!

Peanut butter & banana sandwich filling

Ingredients   Peanut butter, honey, banana

Serves: 1 Preparation: 5 minutes

I made an Apple & Cinnamon loaf this week and have been fiddling around with serving suggestions for quick snacks. Just when I thought that French toast was the perfect solution I hit upon the gorgeous combination of sweet and savoury to make this lovely, simple filling. 

1) Peel a small, very ripe banana and mash it in a bowl with a fork.


2) Add a tablespoon of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth) and half a teaspoon of honey and mix through with the fork until combined.
3) Spread onto the bread and serve!

Banana & walnut cake

Ingredients    3/4 cup butter (127g), 2 ripe   bananas, 3 cups plain flour (681g), 1  1/12 tsp baking soda, 2 cups sugar     (454g), 3 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla    essence, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (339g), walnuts.

1) Sift the flour and baking powder with a pinch of salt and set aside


2) Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together and beat in the eggs one at a time


3) Whisk in the flour a cup at a time, alternating with the buttermilk


4) Mash the ripe bananas and whisk into the rest, stirring a handful of finely chopped walnuts at the last minute


5) Pour into a cake tin (this quantity fills one large cake tin or 2 loaf tins) and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Put immediately into the freezer for 10 minutes - this will stop the steam from rising and make the cake incredibly moist.


6) Once cool, cream equal parts of icing sugar, butter and cream cheese together and slather onto the top. I had some leftover caramel from making my caramel apple pie so I swirled that over too!