Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Sackville's Note:

Great finger food for kids or adults, and especially suitable for anyone with food allergies since there is no wheat or milk in the recipe.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 2 cups rolled oats , uncooked
• 1 cup oat flour (can be made by pulverising rolled oats in a blender or food processor)
• 1 cup packed currants or 1 cup raisins or 1 cup chopped prunes or 1 cup other dried fruit
• 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup orange juice (you could also use 1/4 cup molasses and 3/4 cup water)
• ¼ cup white sugar or ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup sesame seeds or ¼ cup nuts , pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9 inch by 13 inch pan, or two 8 inch by 8 inch pans.
3. Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well.
4. It should be moist enough to form a ball, without extra liquid.
5. Put mixture in prepared pans and spread evenly.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cut into squares while still hot.
8. Wait until the bars cool before trying to remove them from the pan.
9. One tip: if the fruit is hard, soak it with a bit of water before starting to make this recipe because the fruit doesn't soften much in baking.

Reviews

[nomnom]

I made these for my Baci over Thanksgiving. I adapted it to fit her diabetic needs: subbed sugar-free maple syrup for the molasses mixture, subbed unsweetened applesauce for the oil (to lower fat content), used Splenda (which is GOD lol), and I didn't have enough rolled oats to make all of the called oat flour, so I added some all-purpose to complete the full cup. I used various dried fruits: raisins, cranberries, papayas, and apricots. Baci raved! So did my little cousin! Alas, I did not try them, but I will speak for her by giving this recipe (and the fact that it's easily adaptable and easy to make in general) 5 stars! - they also smelled darn good even while just MIXING!

[niami]

Very good. I made the recipe with the ingredients and measurements as the author stated and did not change it (Ever notice how people here don't follow the recipes then leave comments saying the recipes suck? I hate that!). The bars tasted great and my 18 month old ate them up!

[NinaLemon]

These were really good, not overly sweet like the boxed breakfast bars and best of all my 20 month son ate them up!

I have been looking for a good breakfast bar recipe, he has peanut, treenut and egg allergies and we need a bit more variety for b'fast!

I subbed 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup oat bran for the oat flour, I also used unsweetened applesauce for the oil and used backstrap molasses and water in place of juice. The molasses adds a good amount of iron and potassium! I also increased the cinnamon to 1.5 tsp, added 1/2 tsp of cloves and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.