Gluten free banana and nut butter flapjack recipe

This week I've been back to prepping my food and training after a very stressful couple of weeks, but I have been struggling to eat enough. I've been eating really badly - virtually nothing all day then a big meal at night - so it's proving pretty tough to try and get back into eating regular meals again.

Instead of just jumping back into six meals a day, I wanted to come up with some snack ideas and this banana and three-nut butter flapjack is the perfect pre-workout snack. It was so quick to make using ingredients I already had at home, and it means I can easily grab a bite to eat before training, something I have struggled with recently.

Instead of using golden syrup I used date syrup in these - I suppose you could brand these with the 'refined sugar free' label but with bananas and date syrup there are still plenty of sugars in there! That being said, utilised pre or post workout there is nothing wrong with that - the date syrup gives them an almost caramel-like flavour.

These are best made with really ripe bananas - the kind that you're on the brink of throwing away because they're so blackened (also great in banana bread, see recipe here) - mine weren't quite that ripe but they still worked well.

You could use your nut butter of choice too - I used the Whole Earth Foods three nut peanut, pecan and walnut butter. I was sent this to sample and it is delicious, I love the fact it is a crunchy nut butter too! It works so well with the banana flavour.

You could also pimp these with whatever you like - raisins, mixed seeds, chopped nuts, dried apricot - I went for some cacao powder (you could use cocoa too) to give it a bit of a chocolate edge! So for those eager to give them a try, here's the recipe!

Gluten free banana and nut butter flapjacks

Makes 8 flapjacks. Per serving: 307 cals, 15.1g fat, 34.5g carbs, 6.5g protein.

2 ripe bananas

60g butter

100g Whole Earth Foods peacan, peanut and walnut butter

80g Meridian date syrup (I got mine from Grape Tree)

250g Nairn's gluten free oats

2 tsp Creative Nature cacao powder

1. Preheat the oven to 160'C. Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper ready.
2. Add the butter, nut butter and date syrup to a large pan and melt over a very low heat - you don't want it to start bubbling away like crazy!
3. Mash the bananas with a fork - I like to leave mine a little bit chunky so you get some lumps, but if you want it smoother you could blend them.
4. Add the banana, oats and cacao to the melted syrup/butter/nut butter mix. Stir well until mixed and pour into the lined tin.
5. Spread evenly, then pop in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove, cool and chop into eight pieces. It's as easy as that! Store in an air-tight container.

What is your favourite pre-workout snack? I'd love some more ideas to try! Comment below with your suggestions or post them on my Facebook page!