1. Preheat your oven to 170 Fan / 190 C / 375 F / Gas 5 and line a 7 x 9 inch baking tray with parchment, covering the base and sides.
2. Mix the ground flax seeds with 3 tblsp water, stir well and set aside for 5 minutes.
3. Peel the bananas and break into chunks into a large bowl.  Mash well with a fork until fairly smooth and no large lumps of banana remain.
4. Add the almond milk, maple syrup and both the essences and and whisk in with the fork.
5. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon stir in the oats and baking powder until everything is well combined.
6. Pour into your prepared tin.
7. Cut the apricots in half and remove the stone.  Cut each apricot half into 3-4 slices then lay the slices across the top of the oats, pushing down to slightly submerge.
8. Optional: sprinkle the coconut sugar over the top of the apricots and oats.  This is an optional step as it doesn’t add much extra sweetness, just gives a lovely caramelisation to the top of the baked oats.
9. Bake the oats for 40 minutes until firm and golden.
10. Eat immediately or leave to cool before slicing into portions and storing in the fridge or freezer.

Notes

• Putting the cooled baked oats in the fridge to chill completely before slicing makes cutting them up much neater (if neatness is your thing!)
• We don’t have a microwave so I don’t know if these are any good to warm up.  Would love to know if anyone tries!