Quick and easy sugar free flapjacks or oat bars, perfect for baby led weaning!
Weaning Recipes
For months I’ve been wanting to post more baby friendly and weaning recipes and I am so pleased that I have FINALLY got round to my first one!
My little man is now 13 months old, so a little past the weaning stage. But with only 5 teeth there are still lots of things that he struggles to eat.
I also try to keep his diet as low in sugar and salt as possible and so I still find myself making lots of food specifically for him. So my first recipe just for babies is going to be these Sugar Free Flapjacks (or Oat Bars).
Snacks
My little man wasn’t much of an eater until a couple of months ago. It used to be a mission to get him to eat more than a couple of morsels of food at a time but recently he has turned into an eating machine.
Some days he eats so much that I struggle to come up with varied and interesting snacks for him.
Those boxes of soft oat bars are handy in these kind of situations but they can work out expensive for what essentially is a few handfuls of oats so I decided to make my own.
Ingredients
My flapjacks are sugar free and also contain no honey, meaning that they are suitable for babies under 1 year. They are naturally sweetened with bananas, desiccated coconut and dates and are soft enough for little mouths to manage.
I blitzed the oats in a food processor first just to break them down a little and make them easier to eat. If you are making these flapjacks for older children or babies with lots of teeth then you can skip this step.
This recipe also makes a great base for so many different flavoured flapjacks. You could add some nut butter for babies over 1 year, dried fruit or even some dark chocolate chips for older children.
Storage Instructions
The flapjacks are best eaten within 24 hours or they will start to dry out. However the best thing to do is to freeze them. Wrap each one in individual parchment parchment paper and pop in a freezer bag or a box. They will defrost in 30 minutes or less so are perfecting for throwing into your changing bag ready to have on hand for snack time.
I’m really excited to be posting more baby and weaning recipes. Are they any baby friendly recipes in particular that you would like to see? Just drop me a message in the comments below!
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Sugar Free Flapjacks for Baby Led Weaning
Prep Time: 5 mins- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 8 – 16 1x
Category: Snacks
Method: Baked
Cuisine: European- Diet: Gluten Free
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Quick and easy sugar free flapjacks or oat bars, perfect for baby led weaning
Ingredients
- 150g / 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 tbsp desiccated coconut
- 50g / ⅓ cup coconut oil or butter (melted in the microwave)
- 1 ½ bananas
- 3 dates
- 4 tbsp orange juice or apple juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170c / 340f and line a baking dish (mine was 8in x 8in) with some parchment.
- Blitz the oats in a food processor for a few seconds to break them down a bit. Transfer the oats into a large bowl and mix in the desiccated coconut.
- In a blender blitz the melted coconut oil or butter, bananas, dates and fruit juice until it forms a sticky paste. Pour this on top of the oat mixture and stir until everything is well combined.
- Scoop the mixture into the dish and press down with the back of the spoon to make it compact.
- Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until the edges of the mixture are beginning to brown.
- Lift the parchment paper out of the dish and leave to cool before cutting into 8 large or 16 small pieces
Notes
These flapjacks can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days. However they are best eaten within 24 hours before they start to dry out. They can also be frozen. Simply wrap them individually in parchment or in individual freezer boxes. They will defrost at room temperature in about 30 minutes.
Rachel says
A great recipe, thank you! I did add quite a few extra things second time round which seemed to work well… dried apricot pieces and raisins, chopped walnuts, seeds, grated apple and some mixed spice (cinnamon etc)! Yum!
Vicky says
Yum! sounds great. Please feel free to share your creations with us on our Facebook and Instagram pages, we love seeing them all.
Steph says
Is there any reason all the ingredients can’t be tossed into the food processor together?
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Bianca Carey Spencer says
Hi Steph! There’s no specific reason why you can’t put everything into the food processor together, however it may change the consistency of the flapjacks. We’ve not tried it, so not sure how it would turn out so if you do try it this way, please do come back and let us know how you got on.
Sakina says
Thanks for a very adaptable recipe. I’m pretty sure that cups in the US and cups in the U.K. and Australia are different so once I figured out the right quantities the rest was easy. I subbed roasted sweet potato for the banana which I know is a bit of a leap but I’m trying to give my little girl a veggie boost at every opportunity. The flavours really worked!! I tasted the mush before mixing with the oats and I thought it tasted really good, the orange and sweet potato combo was lovely. Even the coconut oil helped. Baby polished her snack so will definitely make again and experiment with some seeds/ nuts/ nut butter/ tahini/ dried fruit etc
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Ruth says
These were lovely and went down a treat with the whole family. We substituted raisins for dates and added a small amount of milk instead of fruit juice. Will definitely be making again, maybe with some cinnamon or nutmeg!
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Shelley says
My 9 month old loved these! Thanks for the recipe:)
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Sid says
Hello! Do you think if I don’t have any oats in hand I could substitute the oats in your recipes with oatmeal cereal such as the Happy Baby one? Thanks!
Sid says
Hello! Do you think if I don’t have any oats in hand I could substitute the oats in your recipes with oatmeal cereal such as the Happy Baby one instead? Thanks!
Lindsey says
We love this recipe, thank you. Love that they can be frozen as mentioned, then I can just get one out of the freezer if ever I’m lacking inspiration or availability of snacks! Easter was a hit with my 15 month old, who loved trying chocolate for the first time! I know dark chocolate can be a good source of iron but I’m aware that sugar should be avoided as much as possible – I don’t suppose you have any sugar free (or minimal) chocolate recipes eg brownies. Ideally something that can also be frozen!
Thank you x
Bianca Carey Spencer says
So glad you loved the recipe Lindsey! We have a Healthy Apple & Banana brownie recipe on the blog that is refined sugar free and can also be frozen! If you search for “brownie” n the blog, you will find it there. Hope you like it. x
dominique says
They were excellent. thanks! I only had 1/2 banana so I cooked 1 apple in a bit of water instead, then added it to the blender with the dates and banana, and I kept the cooking water because I don’t buy juice. I also added 2 huge spoons of peanut butter!
Ciara Attwell says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Sarah says
I’ve been making these for we’ll over a year now and I love how adaptable the recipe is. I’ve substituted just about everything, raisins and apricots work well instead if dates, and I’ve added everything from nuts (ground,butters and chopped) every dried fruit possible, normal chopped fruit too,and seeds, also a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. The only thing I never bother with is the fruit juice!Everyone loves them and they’re a firm favourite if my twins! Thank you!
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Ciara Attwell says
Thanks so much Sarah. Love all your variations too!
N says
Ooh thanks! I was wondering if I could omit the juice.
Sarah says
Would oat flour work just as well as rolled oats? My daughter is under1 yrs old and I thought to save time on blending the oats I could use oat flour. Should the oats be that refined or not?
Ciara Attwell says
Yes that should work just as well!
Brenda says
Super recipe! Actually made these for my husband who is on a bit of a health kick and couldn’t find anything in the shops that was sugar free. Will save a fortune as well on his usual shop bought ones!
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Julia says
Thanks so much for this fantastic recipe! I tried it this morning and the result is absolutely delicious. Both my 18 month old and I can’t get enough of them. I’d call them oat bars instead of flapjacks, at least mine turned out more like oat bars. Do you think it would be possible to replace the butter partly or entirely with vegetable oil and if so how much?
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Catherine Crowley says
Absolutely fantastic Ciara, thanks for sharing this and all your recipes. I have just become a ‘My fussy eater’ convert. Cant wait to try them all.
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Ciara Attwell says
Thanks Catherine! x
Christie says
Do you think it is possible to use a watered down homemade baby puree instead of the juice? We typically don’t purchase juice
Ciara Attwell says
Yes that would probably work. Or fresh juice too.
Christina says
Hi there. I have bananas that I had frozen for muffins. Would these work or would they have to be fresh?
Annette says
I love making these for my LO! I blintz the oats and dates before my morning smoothie and save the mixing and baking after she goes to bed. So easy! Lately I’ve been trying to use up some purees that she doesn’t go for as much any more- So fyi- I replace one of the bananas and the juice with one fruit pouch and it works great! Adds
Claire says
Hi Ciara do you think you could use dried apricots instead of dates in this recipe? Thanks
Ciara Attwell says
Hi Claire, you can certainly try it. The dates make the mixture a little sticky so that the bars hold together but you might get the same result from the apricots if you blend them up really well. Let me know how it goes!
Cristina Gomes says
Are this flapjacks crispy or soft? baby with 9months and only 2 teeth 🙂
Ciara Attwell says
They are soft but still require a little bit of chewing
Lyve says
Thanks for sharing this recipe! Look forward to trying it out! X
Mahnusch says
It seems delicious and healthy.
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Beverly says
I was disappointed that these werent flapjacks. My grandsons love flapjacks but I rarely make them due to sugar content
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Beverly says
I should have said PANCAKES, as we often use tge term interchangeably
Emily McKean says
Looking forward to making this! Bring on the weaning finger food recipes 🙂
Ciara Attwell says
Hope your little one like them!
Caro says
I loved this recipe, however you should not state that it’s “sugar free” you can say it’s “no sugar added” which is quiet different. Dates, bananas and oranges have tons of sugar
Sandra says
Thank you for this comment, I was about to post the same thing.
Weffy says
Sugar from fruit is different to refined sugar. Fructose uses the liver to break down rather than stomach so no spike in insulin…. better form of sugar…and children use it up!
Tasha says
I think she’s well aware of that. Maybe she should of stated that they’re unrefined for the food police but if you thought you’d find a flapjack minus a “sweet” binder you were maybe looking for cardboard. I for one can’t wait to try this for my little one. Thank you.
Emma Lofthouse-Burch says
Another great weaning recipe, thank you 🙂
Ciara Attwell says
Thank you so much!
Maria says
These were on point! A real hit. I also used honey instead of Juice for my 15mo. She loved it.
Ciara Attwell says
Fantastic, so happy to hear that!
Em says
Hi ciara, I am thinking of making them in a muffin tray for my 7,5mo boy .. Do you think they’d bake well in muffin form? Thank you! Can’t wait to try them.
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Ciara Attwell says
I’m not 100% sure they’ll work as I haven’t tried this myself, but its certainly worth a shot. Maybe use cupcake liners just in case they don’t stick together very well.
Soph says
These are amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe. Fantastic for baby but also great for a mummy who is trying to eat less chocolate! Have gone down very well in our house x
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Ciara Attwell says
Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know. So glad you enjoyed them!
Paul says
My son is 2 years old.Is honey OK for him as a sweetener instead of dates? Thank you.
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Ciara Attwell says
Hi, yes honey is ok for a 2 year old!
Ruth Robinson says
Hi there. Just to say a big thank you for your excellent sugar-free flapjack recipe. It’s gone down very well with my seven-month old boy with whom I’m now doing baby-led weaning after over a month of battling it out with purées. He ate a whole finger of flapjack this morning – and seemed to really enjoy the whole process – which I was staggered by! Think they are rather tasty myself and they’ll be a hit with my mother, who’s on an added-sugar-free diet. Much appreciated!
Leeanne says
What sweet we can I use in place of the dates and how much , maybe maple syrup ?
Ciara Attwell says
Hi, honey would probably work the best as it will help the mixture to stick together. Try 1 tablespoon to start with and add a little more if it doesn’t seem to stick!
Lucy says
Love your recipes, keen to try this one but I don’t have space for a food processor, tried another date recipe using the nutribullet but it didn’t work – any tips?
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Ciara Attwell says
Hi Lucy! Maybe try soaking the dates in warm water before you blitz them in the nutribullet. That might help to soften them enough so that they break down. Failing that you could also buy date syrup and just use that instead. Hope that helps!
Lucy says
That’s brilliant thank you I’ll try that, so many recipes use them!
Maria says
Hey there I blitzed everything in my smoothie blender and it worked fine! I did substitute honey for the juice. Was great!
Ines says
great recipe- thank u!
I am trying to find some more plant-based recipes (also for brekky) cos I wanne get the whole family on more veggies. My hubby, baby (7months) and me ( trying to get off my pregnancy weight). Would be very grateful for some ideas!
Ciara Attwell says
Thank Ines. I want to eat more plant-based meals too. Its so healthy and also good to give your body a little rest from lots of meat and dairy. I will try to upload more!
Lori says
What is 1 tbsp desiccated coconut?
Ciara Attwell says
one tablespoon desiccated coconut or shredded coconut
Laura @ KneadWhine says
These look great – I wonder if Roo would like them.
Ciara Attwell says
They’re definitey worth trying Laura. So handy to have on hand for baby and toddler snacks!
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says
These should be renames sugar free flapjacks for Bintu ‘off chocolate’ weaning.
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Ciara Attwell says
Ha ha! Good name!!