Pear and Date Flapjacks
Little Boy Green and I are gradually expanding the repertoire of activities and destinations of our weekly afternoon alone together. On one occasion we set out on “a great adventure” of exploring the playgrounds of the Olympic Park and the nearby waterways and canal. He got to ride his scooter, really, really fast, play in a big sandpit, swing like a monkey on an adult exercise frame, see big kids on a school outing (he loves watching big kids, he finds them so inspirational, “will I be big like them, daddy?” – cue Mrs Green silently shouting “No! Never! Always my little boy!”) and go up and down, and up and down a big new slide.
I had my own motivations for this little adventure, aside from also being bored of our usual haunts, there is a plant-based cafe that I have been wanting to scope out for some time and it just happened to be conveniently located for a post-adventure pick me up.
I like the cafe for the one litre green juice bottles, but Little Boy Green had his eyes on the flapjacks. He could hardly contain himself when I said he could have it, or whatever else was on display. Little Boy Green was delighted at the free rein but also suspicious- explicitly confirming whether “it was all vegan”. I assured him that everything in the cafe was good for him to eat. He relaxed with that blessing, took his flapjack and went to sit in a sunny spot on a shaggy rug by a low coffee table and made himself right at home. The boy likes a café, I fear.
In honour of that experience and all things flapjack we had a go at making some for ourselves. While the unadulterated joy of being able to have whatever you want for the first time is not easy to replicate, we did a fine job at making a treat that, at least, will remind me of a great day out for a long time to come.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups jumbo rolled oats
- 3 very ripe medium pears
- 150g dates, we used 8 medjool dates
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp coconut butter
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Remove seeds from dates and soak in warm water for 10 min.
- Drain dates, then process in a food processor with the chopped pears, vanilla essence, coconut butter and cinnamon until a paste is formed.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds and oats and then add the pear and date paste and mix well to combine.
- Spread the flapjack mixture onto a lined baking tray about an inch (2cm) thick or into a greased brownie tin and bake for 30 min.
- When cool to the touch, slice into bars and store in the fridge ready for your next adventure!
