Raw Caramel Banana Bars

This recipe came out of a Chopped-like situation this weekend. I had a bunch of random ingredients to use up but I wanted to make a sweet treat. I didn't quite have the ingredients for banana cream pie, and bananas foster seemed too simple, so I whipped up these bars instead. A tasty graham cracker oat crust topped with bananas and a lovely raw caramel from Nutrition Stripped.

There really isn't much else to say about these. They're sweet and delicious and packed full of fresh bananas. Plus this is a great excuse to make a big batch of delicious caramel to keep around for fruit, oatmeal, ice cream... Heck you can put it on almost anything. I've even thrown it in my coffee and hot cocoa! Hopefully you'll give these a try and check out Mckel's website too! She's got so many tasty recipes that it's definitely worth heading over and perusing. Enjoy!

Raw Caramel Banana Bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats

• 4 sheets graham crackers

• 12 dates

• 2 bananas, sliced

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 3/4 cup coconut oil, divided

• 3 tbsp + 2 tsp almond butter

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a food processor, combine 10 dates, oats, graham crackers and 1/2 cup coconut oil and pulse until the mixture resembles a dough.

3. Press evenly into a lined and greased 9x7 pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. While letting the crust cool, combine the maple syrup, remaining coconut oil, remaining dates, almond butter, vanilla and honey in the food processor. Pulse until smooth.

5. Layer the sliced bananas in a single layer on top of the crust.

6. Pour the caramel over the banana slices.

7. Place in the freezer for 1 hour or the refrigerator for 4 hours to set.

8. Enjoy!