Fresh Fruit Fiesta Bars

Submitted by ncmysteryshopper

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

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Yields: 36 bars

ingredients

• Base

• 1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3⁄4 cup butter or 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• Topping

• 10 ounces canned mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 apple, cubed and peeled
• 1⁄2 cup raisins
• 1⁄4 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.

 

[Midwest Maven]

These were really good. A great snack or quick grab and go breakfast. Very easy too, thanks! Made for ZWT3.

 

[free-free]

Really good!! I actually had a can of mandarin oranges on hand that the MIL had given her sonny when she was cleaning out her cabinets...she gives her unwanted can goods to him and he brings them home to me to deal with BUT that's another story... ANY-way... I was inspired to make these wonderful fruit and cereal bars because of that can...all the other items I always have around. Now I will be going out and buying my own canned oranges because these bars are delightful. A wonderful mixture of textures...almost pie like with the oat crustiness and the gooey fruit filling. Mine came out a bit messy but still passable as a finger food. The only thing I did differently was to mix whole wheat and all-purpose flour together to get 1 and 3/4 cup total and then because my mixture seem a bit on the dry side I added a teaspoon or so of juice to it so I could press it a bit better...OH, I also used a smaller, deeper dish...like 8x12 ?? or something (sorry I did not measure, and it is packed away right now) - I'm into granola type bars and these are a really good, filling little quick "break-ey" or treat...we loved them!!! I have one question - where are the other 249 bar and brownie recipes you teased us about!!?? Thank you NcMysteryshopper!! -