Baked oatmeal bars

I find recipes online and I often change them; that's what I do. I usually modify to make them easier to make (because I'm lazy!), and sometimes I add greens to them. I seem to have a really hard time following recipes.  This recipe was modified to make it cook faster, take out a little of the fat, and change the flavors for fun.  You could lighten it up a little more if you wanted. Originally, I got the recipe for baked oatmeal bars from a fun blog called, "Oh she glows!" 

Since I found the recipe in February, I have made it with apples, dried apples, blueberries, and chocolate chips. The bars with blueberries and the bars with chocolate chips are my two favorites! (For the record, I've served the chocolate version to company and they LOVED it.) 

I also played around with using xylitol versus maple syrup as the sweetner. While I liked the xylitol versions, I went back to maple syrup. I am rather fond of maple syrup for some of the benefits researchers are seeing from it and though the research I have read suggests xylitol is safe, I want to read a little more before I feed it to myself and my kids on a regular basis.

A little side note, maple syrup has been called a "wonder of the world" and is really interesting as a plant-based sweetner. Don't go all crazy with it, but if you use a quarter of a cup in this recipe, you'll only get 1 teaspoon per baked oatmeal serving (if you do 12 squares). If you want the recipe sweeter, I recommend additional xylitol--1/4 - 1/2 cup of it. (Or cut the maple syrup completely and go for the xylitol if you want.) Without further adieu, here's the recipe!

Ingredients for all versions:
2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
1/4 cup chia seed

one heaping 1/2 cup of ground flax

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

almost 1 cup almond milk (or your choice of plant-based milk)  NOTE you can make it lower fat depending on what milk you use.  Soy milk is lower fat than almond and rice milk is lower still. I personally like almond.

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1-2 bananas, mashed (1 large or 2 small)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the fruit based versions:
For any version add 1-2 tablespoon cinnamon. (Lots of antioxidants in cinnamon!)

Fruit Option 1:
If using blueberries, I recommend using a 10 oz. bag of frozen blueberries.  That's what I use for very, berry good muffins!

Fruit Option 2:
If using apples, you can either use fresh apples or dried. When I used fresh, I used 2 apples (fuji) chopped up into bite size pieces (I didn't peel) and cooked in a little water and cinnamon (2-3 teaspoons).  I cooked them for ~20 minutes?. Most but not all the water had boiled off.  You may need to decrease the plant-based milk a little.

You can also use dried apples. I like to use these cause I have 2.5 cases of them--long story for another day. With the dried, I simply re-hydrate in a little water for a few minutes.

For the chocolate chip version:
Skip the cinnamon and just add 1/2 cup to 3/4s of a cup of dark chocolate chips to the batter.

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line 9x9 inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper or a silicone liner.)  I have one about like this.*

2. In a blender or food processor, blend/process 1 cup of the oats until a flour forms. Or you can just use 1 cup of oat flour. (If you use the flour still use 1.5 cups of rolled oats--see step 3.)

3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oat flour, 1.5 cups rolled oats, chia, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, syrup, banana, vanilla until no clumps remain. Add wet to dry and stir until combined. Add dry sweetener to taste if desired. Fold in fruit or chocolate (make sure you add cinnamon to the fruit version and skip it for the chocolate version) that you desire.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden along edge and it springs back slowly when touched.


 *I love my silicone liner!  I stick it in the 9x9 pan that I use for baking the cake/bars and it works great!  The corners of my cake/bars aren't exactly 90 degrees, but it's okay.  I never have parchment paper and my silicone liner is reusable!

Here's a picture of the blueberry version with the silicone baking liner.

Here's a picture of the chocolate chip version; it's lighter because it lacks cinnamon. (It's also with the baking liner.)

As mentioned above, completely optional:

To make the bars a little sweeter add up to 1/2 cup xylitol. You can use the xylitol with the maple syrup or you can cut the maple syrup completely.  You might need a splash more plant-based milk if you do xylitol without the maple syrup.