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Fruit and Oat Crumble Bars

January 7, 2009

fruit-oat-bars.jpg

Whenever I'm working on recipes for weelicious, my husband relishes his job of being one of our most skilled taste testers. He and Kenya, side by side, will give me their "oohs and aahhs" when I've nailed it and the occasional thumbs down (how dare they?!) when I don't meet their high standards.
When I set off to create this recipe, I knew the challenge was going to be whether I could keep it moist and healthy. On the first try, with a slightly different recipe and cooking time, I thought the crust was a bit to dry. My husband disagreed and declared them a masterpiece. On the second try, with a few tweaks, I came up with this version, which is so yummy and perfect for kids school lunch boxes.
The other day, Kenya sat on his daddy's lap with the new batch and rejoiced as they dug into square after square of this treat. I have to say, this goes down as one of our family's favorite recipes because it's healthy and packed with fiber and other nutrients, as well as being sweet but not in a loaded with sugar and the junk you'll find in a store-bought equivalent.
I guarantee I will be coaxed into making these once a week during apple season (it could be a long winter for mommy)!

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Fruit and Oat Crumble Bars  (Makes 18 Bars)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes,
  • Total Time: 40 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole oats
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons wheat germ
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 10 tablespoons butter
  • 1/3 cup chopped nuts (i used almonds)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 cups apple butter, or 1-10 to 12 oz jar sugar free fruit preserves

Preparation

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. 2. Place all the ingredients except the apple butter or preserves in a food processor.
  3. 3. Pulse until the ingredients are combined and oats and nuts are in small pieces.
  4. 4. Press all but 1 cup of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 11 x 7 inch pan.
  5. 5. Cover the oat mixture with apple butter or preserves.
  6. 6. Crumble the remaining 1 cup of oat mixture over the apple butter or preserves.
  7. 7. Bake for 30- 35 minutes.
  8. 8. Cool, cut and serve.
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Comments






  1. cbm

    March 31, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    Reply

    Has anyone tried freezing these? Any tips welcome on best way to store these. Thanks!

  2. cbm

    March 31, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    Reply

    Made these today with white whole wheat flour and subbed 1/2 coconut oil for the butter (prob used about 9 tbsp total butter and oil). Did the full 2 cups of apple butter. Delish! Crust held together well, though topping is a little fine and could be messy, but my 15 mth old had no problem shoveling it in:)

  3. Ruth

    August 27, 2012 at 7:46 am

    Reply

    Made these this weekend w/ strawberry preserves, Like another commenter, I only used 8 Tbsp butter. It seemed to turn out just fine, but it was a little crumbly and maybe a bit too messy to send in a lunchbox. But absolutely delicious warm with some homemade vanilla ice cream on top!!

  4. Tiffany p

    August 13, 2012 at 7:01 am

    Reply

    How do you store these?

  5. Jennifer

    June 4, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Reply

    I wonder if coconut oil would work to replace a few Tbs of the butter? Then again, everything IS better with butter! HA!

    • Kendra

      July 12, 2012 at 1:48 am

      Reply

      I do this all the time! I either add a bit of both butter & coconut oil, or I’ve also substituted full coconut oil for butter when I didn’t have any butter in the house, and my baking recipes have turned out great!

      Gotta love coconut oil!

  6. catherine

    May 31, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    Reply

    I love my Vitamix! You can, just do it on a low setting to ensure you don’t overwork the dough! :)

  7. Shauna Schwartz

    May 31, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Reply

    I recently bought a vitamix- and I love it- do u know if these can be made with the vitamix instead of a food processor?

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  9. lauren

    August 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Reply

    These look delicious. I’d like to make them for my 11 month old and am wondering: have you tried them with another sweetener, like maple syrup, so an infant can eat them? And, what about oil instead of butter (he’s got a dairy sensitivity that he’ll hopefully grow out of!). Or, I’ll just wait to make them till all ingredients as listed are a ‘go’!

  10. Penny

    June 29, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    Reply

    Made these today with Pear butter. We didnt have wheat germ so I substituted 1 tbsp of ground flax seed. Also only used 8 tbsp butter and used whole oats because thats all I had. No nuts, didnt have any on hand. :( These turned out great! Love them! :)

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  12. Jen

    February 10, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    Reply

    Instead of nuts, do you think toasted pepitas or sunflower seeds would grind up nicely and taste good? Son allergic to nuts:(

    • catherine

      February 10, 2011 at 4:36 pm

      Reply

      i don’t see why not! :) pepitas & sunflower seeds would be great!

  13. Catherine M

    January 29, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Reply

    Are steel cut oats are the same thing as whole oats? I have a lot of steel cut oats on hand and would like to substitute steel cut oats in place of whole oats.

    • Kristen

      April 4, 2011 at 3:21 am

      Reply

      steel cut oats are not the same thing as regular oats. I imagine this recipe probably would not turn out right with steel cut

  14. Tessa

    November 29, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    Reply

    I made these today with whole wheat flour. Super yummy!! Thanks for the recipe.

  15. Sara

    November 19, 2010 at 6:00 pm

    Reply

    I don’t have wheat germ or oat bran. Do you think it would work with flax meal?

    • catherine

      November 22, 2010 at 4:10 pm

      Reply

      Flax meal has a totally different flavor so I am not sure how the flavors would turn out, I would either leave it out or just use 1 tbsp of flax meal.

  16. Maureen

    November 10, 2010 at 6:14 pm

    Reply

    Can you make it without the wheat germ and using gluten-free flour instead?

    • catherine

      November 12, 2010 at 3:29 pm

      Reply

      I would use oat bran instead of the wheat germ, and use the gluten free flour :) I have not tested it with gluten free flour so let me know how it goes!

  17. Abbey

    September 23, 2010 at 6:39 am

    Reply

    Ok thanks I was just wondering!

  18. abbey

    September 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    Reply

    is there anyway to substitute some of the butter to cut back on fat?

    • catherine

      September 22, 2010 at 4:23 pm

      Reply

      unfortunately, no, you really need the butter for the consistency after it bakes

  19. Ashley

    July 30, 2010 at 1:37 am

    Reply

    A huge hit in our household! This recipe is delicious with apple butter but I’m wondering if it could be substituted with other fruit spreads (or what about strawberry preserves??).

  20. Mara

    January 18, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    Reply

    I made these the other day in my desperate attempt to find new and healthy snacks for my kids. It came out great and the kids love it (I didn’t have wheat germ though, so I substituted with ground almonds). I ended up only using 1 1/2 C. of apple butter as 2 C. seemed like a lot, and IMHO, it is. Even the amount I used made the bars a little messier than they probably should be (especially if I’m going to send them to school with them). Next time I’ll only use 1 C. I’m also going to try it with lemon curd. But the bars themselves came out moist and delicious. Great recipe!!

  21. Annie Tunheim

    January 8, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Reply

    What perfect timing! I bought a load of apples yesterday and was just wondering what I was going to do with our bag of oats since my husband switched to steel-cut. I can’t wait to make these tonight–thanks!

  22. Andrea

    January 7, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    Reply

    These look delicious! Do they freeze well?

  23. Emily

    January 7, 2009 at 9:09 am

    Reply

    Hi there,

    Just curious if this recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of butter or 10? Love the website, love your recipes, just wanted to make sure I had all the ingredients correct before I tried this one.
    Thanks!!



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