Fresh Fruit Fiesta Bars

NcMysteryShopper's Note:

This fabulous fruit bar recipe is from Esther Brody’s “The 250 Best Brownies Bars & Squares” cookbook. Posted for Zaar World Tour 2005.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 36 bars

Base

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ cup butter or ¾ cup margarine , softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar

Topping

• 10 ounces canned mandarin oranges , drained
• 1 banana , sliced
• 1 apple , cubed and peeled
• ½ cup raisins
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Base: In a bowl mix together flour, rolled oats and cinnamon.
3. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Blend in flour mixture. Set aside 1 ¼ cups of mixture. Press remainder evenly into 13 by 9 inch, ungreased, cake pan. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
4. Topping: In a bowl mix together oranges, banana, apples, raisins, orange juice and cinnamon. Spread topping evenly over warm base, leaving a space about a ¼ inch from the edges. Sprinkle reserved base mixture over top, patting down gently. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until golden brown. Place pan on a rack to cool completely, then cut into bars.

Reviews

[Denver Chef]

Loved these...and got lots of requests for the recipe!

[Ginger Rose]

These were lovely! I used fresh mandarins...I wasn't sure whether it would work but it came out well. It makes nice moist, fruity bars. Thanks!

[J-Lynn]

Very good! We aren't always fans of fruit in our sweets, but this is one of the better fruit desserts. Few changes I made: I didn't bake the base quite as long as called for- I didn't want it to be too hard at the end. I left out the banana and subbed craisins for raisins. I DICED the apples, then mixed the fruit mixture in my electric mixer so that everything would be sort of smashed up. That made a LOT of juice, so I decided to drain almost all the juice off before putting in pan. My bars were still quite moist, but I had no problem getting them out of the pan neatly. (I also sprayed the pan). Good recipe; I especially like the nutrition facts.