Oat and strawberry bars

Whether you're taking them to school, offering a sweet treat mid-morning at work, or serving as a sweet treat on the snack table, these strawberry oat bars are quick and easy to make... and they're delicious!

I love making these homemade cereal bars with the unstoppable flavour of strawberries; although you can follow the same recipe with other frozen fruits or change part of the quantity of strawberries for others, to make a delicious mix of flavours. Some combinations that work very well with strawberries are blackberries, red berries or, without a doubt, blueberries. Let us know which is your winning combination!

September is clearly the month of returning to routine. It is unavoidable. And since that is the case, I think it is great to have various ideas to sweeten that return to work and school reality. Do you also think about what you will prepare for the little ones, or what resources to have at your disposal to have a reason to smile mid-morning? I hope that is what happens to you with these oat and fruit bars.

Ingredients

• 500 g frozen strawberries
• 250 g oats
• 200 g plain flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• The zest of 1 lime (or 1 lemon if necessary)
• 50 g icing sugar
• 50 g corn flour
• 140 g cane sugar
• 225 g melted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt

Optional: You can add a little cinnamon to the mix, it goes well with these bars. If not, some coconut flakes or adding grated coconut is also a good combination with the strawberries, or sprinkle some blueberries over the strawberries.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC.
2. In a large bowl, add the strawberries (and blueberries or other fruit if you want to add another fruit), vanilla extract, lime zest, icing sugar and corn flour. Mix with a spatula until all the fruit is coated and everything is well mixed. Set aside.
3. In the KitchenAid bowl, add the oats, wheat flour, brown sugar, melted butter and salt. Mix at speed 2 with the flat beater attachment, until small lumps form.
4. Line a 24x24 square pan with baking paper (the Naturals Nordic Ware pan is fabulous for this type of baking where we want it to become crispy quickly).
5. Spread 3/4 of the oat mixture you have prepared in the mold.
6. On top, as a second layer, pour the strawberry mixture that you had reserved, and distribute it evenly.
7. As a top and final layer, just spread the oat mixture over the fruit.
8. Bake for 45 minutes at 190 °C, check the dough to see if it starts to have toasted flakes. Leave it for up to 55 minutes approx (it will depend on the oven and the height at which you have placed the tray, do not go far from the oven and look at it to check if it is done).
9. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, ideally on a cooling rack.
10. When the dough is cold, cut it into strips of similar width (about 4 or 5 cm), and then cut them crosswise in half (if you want long bars) or make several crosswise cuts if you want to present them in squares.

Grades

• You can store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a maximum of 5 days.
• If you use fresh strawberries, place them in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Freezing them prevents the juice from leaking out and ensures that the base of the bar remains crunchy.