Strawberry Almond Oat Bars

Yield: one 8-inch square pan, about 25-36 squares
Recipe: 162/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 314

    I am on a mission to finish up the remainder of the recipes from the cookbook that I have yet to do this year. This weekend I was in the mood to make these lovely strawberry almond oat bars. Once in a while it’s nice to have a recipe that you just mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet together, combine and bake. These bars were like that, with the trickiest/longest part being the actual stirring of the almond butter. I had personally never used almond butter and was keen to try it.

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups regular rolled oats
• ½ cup packed demerara or dark brown sugar
• ⅔ cup pure almond butter, well-stirred
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 cup strawberry preserves (can be low-sugar)

    I enjoyed making these oat bars, but they didn’t turn out quite right for me. The oat mixture was much too crumbly and not wet enough. It was evident as I was pressing it into the pan and atop the strawberry preserves that it was not wet enough and I suspected, correctly, that it would not hold it’s shape much. I don’t know if it’s the specific almond butter that I used that perhaps was a different consistency and moisture, but I’d guess that a bit more of this or perhaps orange juice would have helped. In addition, although the bars were tasty, it is really the strawberry preserves that shine through as I did not detect much almond flavour myself. They were still pleasant to eat and they do not feel too heavy, but I do wish that the crumble held more it’s shape.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over the sides a little.
2. In a bowl, stir together the flour, oats and sugar to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, stir the almond butter, oil and orange juice. Add this to the flour mixture and combine until the mixture is a rough, crumbly texture.
4. Press half of the mixture into the prepared pan and spread the strawberry preserves overtop. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the preserves and gentle press.
5. Bake the bars for about 35 minutes, until they brown just around the edges. Cool the bars, then chill before slicing. The bars will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Happy baking!
Valerie