These triple berry almond oat bars, I love them.
The tasty little things are like eating fruit crisp in bar form.
And they are healthy!
And vegan!
And so, so delicious!
Earlier this week I was paging through the ole Duesterhoeft Café cookbook and came across the recipe for fudgy oatmeal bars. My mom would make them for potlucks and other such things, because they make such a large pan and are super tasty. I decided that I needed to make them.
But then I decided to try to make them just a leeetle bit healthier. And then I accidentally completely transformed them into something else.
Something amazing.
Something that you can eat two of and not feel guilty about afterwards.
Something that looks like this:
I swapped:
- All purpose flour for oat flour and almond meal
- Butter for coconut oil
- Chocolate fudge for tripe berry chia seed jam
- An egg for a flax egg
- Brown sugar for less brown sugar
- Deliciousness for guilt-free deliciousness
So yeah, not quite the same. But that’s ok, because I’m pretty obsessed with how they turned out.
On the bottom there is a crust made with coconut oil, brown sugar, almond meal, oat flour, oats, a flax egg, and almond extract. This stuff alone is pretty amazing. Try not to eat it all (you gotta taste test a little!) before getting it into the pan.
There are a lot of substitutions you can make here – gluten-free, non-vegan, etc – so make sure to check out the note section in the recipe.
In the middle there is a fruit layer made with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and chia seeds. AKA triple berry chia seed jam. This stuff alone is also pretty amazing. Truth be told I don’t eat a lot of jam. I never buy it and this was my first experience making chia seed jam (or any type of jam) and now I’m in love. It’s super easy to make, tastes delicious, and is healthy! I’m sure you could easily swap out the sugar for some honey or maple syrup. I made some more again yesterday to use for oatmeal, yogurt, spoonfuls into my mouth, etc.
The two layers are topped off with some crumbled oat mixture, then placed it in the oven until baked to perfection (20-25 minutes).
As you can see these triple berry almond oat bars are made with a bunch of wholesome, healthy ingredients. Yes, they have some sugar, but I’d say it’s a forgivable amount. They are healthy enough to eat for breakfast and delicious enough to eat for dessert.
I ate these chilled in the fridge. I ate them heated up. Both were pretty dern good.
Now I’m going to go run 22 miles (pray for me) and when I come home I’ll probably polish off the rest of the pan. But to be honest, there really aren’t many left.
- ½ cup strawberries, diced
- ½ cup raspberries
- ½ cup blueberries
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- ¾ cup chopped almonds
- ¾ cup oat flour
- ½ cup almond meal
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup coconut oil, solid state
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal + 2.5 tablespoons water)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the bars can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease with butter or oil spray.
- Add the berries, lemon juice, and sugar to a saucepan and stir on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until it begins to bubble. The fruit should break apart and release liquid. Use the back of your spoon to press down on the blueberries and raspberries a little bit. Turn to medium-low, add the chia seeds, and continue to stir for an additional 10 minutes. It will thicken as you stir.
- Add the chopped almonds then set aside and allow to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, combine the oat flour, almond meal, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the coconut oil and brown sugar until they are fully combined. Stir in the almond extract and flax egg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.
- Press ¾ of the oat crust into the baking pan. Spread the chia seed jam over the crust then sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving. These taste awesome both warm and cold.
You can sub all-purpose flour for both the oat flour and almond meal (1 ¼ cups total).
Make your own oat flour by processing oats in a food processor or blender until it reaches flour consistency. Almond meal can be made the same way (by using almonds).
Use gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten free.
To make a flax egg mix 1 tablespoon flax meal with 2 ½ tablespoons water and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Use a real egg in place of a flax egg if you aren’t vegan.
PS – Have you made chia seed jam before? What’s your favorite jam flavor?
