Let's get straight to it.
What's not to love about a bar so versatile that it can be served warmed, chilled, with ice cream or without, for dessert or breakfast a snack?
Absolutely nothing.
These Strawberry Oat Crumble Bars will satisfy every dessert loving bone in your body. They are easy to throw together and taste insanely good. They are the type of bar that you make with full intentions to bring to the back to school bash at your son's school, but then find yourself washing out an empty pan and realizing that you never actually shared them. Hypothetical, of course?.
TIME SAVING TIPS AND TRICKS:
PREP: If you are making homemade preserves, go ahead and get that done since it can be made WAAAYYY in advance. You can also mix up the dry ingredients and store them if desired.
MAKEAHEAD: These bars are delicious when made ahead. In fact, I would suggest it because it takes them awhile to cool. If you slice them when warm, they are delicious, but really crumbly.
FREEZER: This is a new recipe so I haven't had time to try out the freezer, but my assumption would be that they would do well. Lay cooked bars onto a cookie sheet, freeze for 1-2 hours or until frozen through. Remove cookie sheet from freezer and individually wrap each bar in parchment paper or clear wrap. Store in a labeled, airtight, ziplock bag. Thaw as needed.
**** If you try it let me know! I am currently testing this and will post an update in a few days!****
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Strawberry Chia Seed Jam Bars
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups 100% whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cups of rolled oats
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ sticks of butter, room temp
- 12 oz strawberry preserves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Dice butter into small cubes and add to the mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients.
- Press ½ of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Spread the strawberry preserves.
- Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top of the jam. Press lightly.
- Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes or until the bars turn golden brown.
- Allow bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be crumbly!
Helpful Hints:
- Yes, these bars are made from whole food ingredients. No, you should not allow yourself to eat the whole pan. They contain a lot of butter (as any good dessert should!). Also, coconut sugar is a healthier option than white sugar, but it's still sugar.
- I made my my own strawberry preserves because I wanted to control the sugar quantities and the quality of my ingredients. You could definitely purchase. Since strawberries are very high on the EWG's website you should definitely look for an organic option Also, select a jam with as few ingredients as possible, and the least amount of sugar.
- Coconut sugar s a little more course than the brown sugar it is replacing in this recipe. For this reason, I like to toss the coconut sugar into a blender or food processor and pulse it a few times until it is light and powdery before adding it to this dessert. Coconut sugar is becoming more and more common. You can find it at most large grocery stores in the baking aisle.
- Butter should be unsalted and organic.
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