Whether to take to school or to provide a sweet mid-morning treat at work, or to serve a dessert at snack time, these oat and strawberry bars are super quick and easy to make... And they're delicious!
I love making these homemade cereal bars with the tireless flavor of strawberries; although you can follow the same recipe with other frozen fruits or swap part of the strawberries for others to create a delicious flavor mix. 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 notably the month of returning to routine. It's unavoidable. And since that's the case, I think it's great to have varied ideas to sweeten that return to work and school life. Do you also find yourselves already thinking about what you'll prepare for the little ones, or what resources to have to bring a smile mid-morning? I hope that's what these oat and fruit bars do for you.
Ingredients
- 500 g frozen strawberries
- 250 g oats
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lime (or 1 lemon if unavailable)
- 50 g icing sugar
- 50 g cornstarch
- 140 g cane sugar
- 225 g melted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
Optional: You can add a little cinnamon to the mixture; it suits these bars well. If not, some coconut flakes or adding desiccated coconut is also a hit in combination with the strawberries, or sprinkle some blueberries among the strawberries.
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 190 ºC.
- In a large bowl, add the strawberries (and the blueberries or other fruit, if you want to add another), the vanilla extract, lime zest, icing sugar and cornstarch. Mix with a spatula until all the fruit is coated and everything is well combined. Set aside.
- 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 clumps form.
- Line a 24x24 square pan with parchment paper (the Naturals Nordic Ware pan is fabulous for this type of bake when you want it to crisp quickly).
- Spread 3/4 of the oat mixture you prepared into the pan.
- On top, as a second layer, pour the reserved strawberry mixture and distribute it evenly.
- As the final top layer, finish spreading the remaining oat mixture over the fruit.
- Bake for 45 minutes at 190 °C, watch the dough and see if the flakes start to toast. Leave it up to about 55 minutes (it will depend on the oven and the rack height which may make it take more or less time, don't stray from the oven and check it to see if it's done).
- Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool completely on a cooling rack, ideally.
- When the dough is cool, cut it into strips of similar width (about 4 or 5 cm), then cut each strip crosswise in half (if you want long bars) or make several cross cuts if you prefer to serve them as squares.
Notes
- You can store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- If you use fresh strawberries, place them in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Freezing them prevents the juice from leaking and ensures the base of the bar stays crisp.
