· · · · · ·

Whole Grain Berry Filled Oat Bars {Homemade Breakfast Bars}

I was pretty excited last year when I won this cookbook, Weelicious Lunches by Catherine McCord.  It is such a cute cookbook and I won it on a whim! I happened to fly by the giveaway and thought “why not?” I found out the next day I was a winner!

Score!

This book has so many amazing recipes in it for kids, but there are quite a few that I would honestly eat whether kiddo was here on not.

Because she’s only here on weekends we had to plan when and what we were going to make. 

The Whole Grain Fruit-Filled Bars on page 249 really caught her attention. When she asked if she could make them I was a little worried they were out of my scope of kitchen work. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my craptastic oven and how it’s so old it has a mind of its own. Or, how baking really isn’t my specialty. I thought for sure I would try this project and fail miserably.

For her, I decide to give it a go.

I know with warmer weather a lot of you are shaking your heads at me. Just hear me out. You’ll want to go ahead and give this a go. Step away from the cereal bars, granola bars and fruit flavored things that pop up all over the supermarket. Not only are these fun to make, you kids will actually beg you for more.

True story.

Kiddo and I had the best time making these. We have this thing where anything that goes in the food processor is dads job. He was unavailable so I had to run the processor. I was making a huge joke about it and she was just laughing her poor little face off. Which, made me laugh even more. Who needs dads, right? Us girls can handle everything in the kitchen. She’s thinks I am pretty comical in the kitchen anyway because I make faces and do different voices. She especially loves my extreme southern style, which really is nothing more than an over exaggeration of my already existing accent. She calls it my “Oklahoma Style.” Pretty fitting, all things considered.

First, you’ll want to toss the ingredients in the food process as stated in the directions below.

homemade oat fruit bars

We really didn’t change too much from the original recipe. We did use 2 different types of fruit filling. Sugar free raspberry preserves and Maine wild blueberry jam. I put one type on 1/2 of the mixture using the cake pan as the guide and then the other kind on the other half.

fruit filled oatmeal bar

It made 16 bars. Perfect for lunch boxes, snacks, picnics , summer snacks, beach trips and more.

fruit filled oat bars berry

Whole Grain Berry Filled Oat Bars {Homemade Breakfast Bars}

Chrystal Mahan YUMeating.com
Servings 16

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 cups whole grain wheat flour
  • 1.5 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1.5 sticks unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp cold water
  • 3/4 cup fruit preserves
  • parchment paper
  • 9 X 13 baking dish
  • spatula

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 350.
  • In the food processor bowl, combine the whole grain wheat flour, old-fashioned oats, brown sugar and salt.
  • Quick blend for 20-30 seconds.
  • Take the sticks of butter and slice them into smaller pieces.
  • Add them to the food processor along with the water.
  • Mix until the dough sticks together. Test by pushing together to see if it holds.
  • Grease a 9 X13 dish and then line it with parchment paper.
  • Grease the parchment paper. (Trust me on these)
  • Divide your oat and flour dough mixture in half.
  • Put one half in the bottom of the cake pan and flatten it out as evenly as possible.
  • A spatula works really well with this.
  • Spread the preserves on top of the dough, spreading evenly.
  • Sprinkle the remaining dough on top of preserves and gently press down using the spatula.
  • Bake for 45 minutes, or until oat mixture becomes a nice golden brown.
  • Allow pan to cool thoroughly.
  • Cut bars into pieces about 1.5 X 4in.
  • Bars can be stored at room temperature for 3-5 days if sealed well or in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.

 

Similar Posts

31 Comments

  1. My kids love breakfast bars. I usually make the no bake type, but I’ll give this a go. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday Linky Party.

  2. They look good. DH and I got a book from Cooking Light with bar recipes we want to try. We liked the idea of healthier alternatives to the boxed bars. Haven’t tried them yet, but this just might inspire me to try them.

  3. Hey these turned out great. I’d love to make some of these for my breakfasts. The easier, the better for me when it comes to breakfast.

  4. These look like a great replacement for store bought granola bars. Wonder if I could freeze them and take em out as needed or if they would get all soggy?

  5. Wow! This is amazing. My kids love those bars you can buy at the store like this but I’m always iffy about them because I never really know what’s in them. This is the perfect solution. I need to try my hand at these because I would be the best mom ever if they turned out for me! I will try!

  6. It has been way too long sine I’ve had anything like a Nutrigrain bar. Maybe the excuse of “trying out a new recipe” would be a valid reason and my wife will let me make some of these.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.