Rice Cakes with Almond & Dates

📝 Ingredients

• 3 plain puffed rice cakes (about 9 g each)
• 15 g almond butter (1 tbsp)
• 1 tsp hot water
• 2 Medjool dates (about 20 g each once pitted)
• ½ very ripe banana (about 60 g)
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch fleur de sel

🍴 Utensils

• Paring knife
• Chopping board
• Small bowl
• Tablespoon

📖 Steps

1. Halve the dates lengthways with the small knife, remove the stones, then cut them into thin strips. If they stick to the blade, run it under cold water between cuts.
2. Put the almond butter in the small bowl with the hot water and mix with a spoon until smooth and spreadable: it will then spread without breaking the very fragile rice cakes.
3. Peel the half banana and cut it into thin rounds about 5 mm thick. Choose a very ripe banana, speckled with brown: it's sweeter and easier to digest before exercise than greener fruit.
4. Lay the rice cakes flat on a plate and spread them with a thin layer of the almond mixture right to the edges, using the back of a spoon rather than a knife so they don't crack.
5. Arrange the date strips and banana rounds over the rice cakes, pressing them lightly into the almond butter so they stay put when you bite in.
6. Dust with cinnamon and sprinkle with a small pinch of flaky sea salt just before serving: the salt brings out the sweetness of the dates and banana, as in salted caramel.
7. Eat the rice cakes straight away, about 30 min before your run, while they're still crisp: made ahead, they go soft from the banana and dates.