Strawberry 'n Oat Bars

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 0 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 20 bars

• ¾ cup margarine
• 4 teaspoons margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar , firmly packed
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats or 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats , uncooked
• 1 cup nuts , chopped
• 1 cup strawberry preserves
• ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. Beat 3/4 cup margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add combined flour, soda and salt; mix well.
4. Stir in oats and nuts.
5. Reserve 1/2 cup crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom of greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
6. Spread the strawberry preserves over the first layer.
7. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool.
8. Melt Chips and 4 teaspoons margarine over low heat (or microwave), stirring until smooth.
9. Drizzle over crumb mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour; cut into bars.

Reviews

[Domestic Goddess]

Recipezaar, I shared these bars with my daughter ( a.k.a. Beet ) and her husband. She said these were really good. This recipe called for 1 cup of the strawberry preserves, I thought that wasn't enough, so I used ( 16 ounces ) from an ( 18 oz. )jar. I also reserved 1-1/2 cups of the crumb mixture for the topping; instead of the 1/2 cup it called for. I baked the bars for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. After removing the bars from the oven. I immediately ran a sharp knife around the inside of the pan, so the preserves wouldn't stick to the pan. When the bars cooled down, I drizzled with the melted chocolate, ran the knife again around the inside of the pan, and cut the bars into squares ( before placing them in the refrigerator for 1 hour ). This can make up to 24 bars instead of 20.

[Schnookie Wookums]

Made it as is and LOVED IT! My family loved them, too! They barely lasted a day here! I also ran a knife around the edge right after baking so the preserves wouldn't make them stick. Thank you for this terrific recipe! It tastes kinda like a nutra grain bar:D EDIT: The first time I made these I also read the instructions incorrectly and reserved half the mixture instead of half a cup. This time I just reserved the half cup and I think I actually like it better using a little more than half the mixture for the bottom, and then the rest for the top. It's more like a nutra-grain bar that way, and they're one of my weaknesses^_^

[Dawni]

I'm sure these would turn out wonderful if you followed the recipe more exactly than I did. I didn't have strawberry preserves, just frozen strawberries. So I took the strawberries, thawed them and put them in the blender with some honey and used that for the strawberry preserves (there was 2 cups). So the bars are more moist than they should be and there is not the intense strawberry taste. But what I do have is yummy gushy strawberry bars. Learn from me, don't do that, use the preserves.