Nothing But: Strawberry, Banana & Chocolate Squares – Indulging Innocently Recipes by @SpamellaB

I love a challenge, so to coincide with the upcoming series of the Great British Bake Off (I’M TOO EXCITED FOR THIS), I was delighted to get involved in a campaign helping to promote Nothing But healthy freeze-dried fruit and vegetable snacks.

The brief: To get creative with their delicious no added sugar, salt or anything artificial snacks and use them in a healthy bake. Of course, I couldn’t wait to get cracking. But which flavour to go with…? See below – spoilt for choice ain’t the word.

I settled on the Strawberry & Banana combo since I had a banana-based recipe in mind. The result: A delicious dairy-free, gluten-free and no refined sugar bake bursting with flavour and not bad to look at either! Ideal for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack with a cuppa, or a dessert with a little coconut cream and fresh strawberries…However you choose! Here we go.

STRAWBERRY, BANANA & CHOCOLATE SQUARES

Ingredients:

1 x can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 overripe bananas
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup almond milk (I used Alpro)
½ cup oats – can be gluten-free
½ cup gluten-free flour blend (I used Dove’s Farm)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup coconut sugar (I used The Coconut Company)
¼ cup stevia (I used Truvia)
2 x packets Nothing But Strawberry & Banana

For the chocolate sauce –

1 tablespoon coconut oil (I used Lucy Bee)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (I used Meridian)
2 tablespoons cocoa or cacao powder (I used Kaizen Living)

Get baking!
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease and line a deep square baking tin.
Place the chickpeas, bananas, eggs, vanilla and almond milk in a blender (I used my Ninja Kitchen Nutri Ninja) and whizz up until smooth. Set aside.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, coconut sugar and stevia in a bowl.

Pour in the blended banana mixture and fold in to form a smooth batter. Spread this evenly into the prepared tin.
Now melt the coconut oil and maple syrup in a small pan, remove from the heat and whisk in the cacao/cocoa powder until smooth and glossy.
Dot teaspoons of this on top of the batter and swirl gently to form a swirl. Now scatter over both packets of the Nothing But dried Strawberry & Banana in one single layer.

Bake for 10 minutes until just going golden on top, then cover with foil to prevent burning and continue baking for a total of about 30 minutes, until firm.
Remove, leave to cool then slice into 9-12 squares. Enjoy!