Strawberry Oat Bars

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Strawberry Oat Bars

Perfect summertime bar cookies! Fresh strawberries top these classic oatmeal bars. Easy to make too!

It’s strawberry season here in upstate New York, and of course the stores are packed with locally grown strawberries.

Perfect for picnics

I love strawberries, especially for smoothies, but wanted to use them in some kind of baked goods. While searching Google images for something that looked good, I happened upon this recipe from Italian Chips. Looked like the perfect fit for me. Only changes I made in this recipe was baking in a larger pan since there was an awful lot of crumb mixture for the stated 9×9-inch pan, which may be a typo on that site since she converted from metric to US measurements. I also used a whole egg, but basically it’s all the same. The filling I just doubled because it seemed pretty skimpy.

I would also advise doing the parchment lining. Two reasons is, it will keep your pan clean AND you’re not adding chemicals to your cookies like you are with the sprays. The parchment won’t conform to the pan shape when empty, but when you press in the crumbs, it holds it’s shape nicely.

Parchment lined pan for easy clean up

I will caution, these are not overly sweet, but remember, this is originally a European recipe and continental tastes vary from American’s tastes, especially when it comes to sugar. I liked them, but I haven’t got an overly sweet tooth anyway AND my background is European, so I’m sorta used to it.

You can always dust it with some confectioner’s sugar to add sweetness–and maybe serve with some ice cream on top, which would be FABULOUS!

Strawberry Oat Bars

Base
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut in chunks
1 egg

Strawberry Topping:
4 cups strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced thinly
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan with parchment -OR- spray well with non-stick spray (I used parchment–it will hold the shape of the pan when you press in the crumbs)

I used a food processor for the base, but you can use a pastry blender if you wish. I’m giving directions for the food processor. If you use a pastry blender, cut in the butter until you get crumbs the size of small peas.

Place flour, sugar, baking powder and oats in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to blend. Add butter chunks and pulse until mixture looks like small peas. Add the egg and pulse–just pulse until blended. Don’t let it ball up like a dough!

Place 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tbs cornstarch in a bowl and mix well. Add the sliced strawberries and toss until coated. Let this stand for about 5-10 minutes.

Reserve 1/4 cup of crumbs for topping. Press the remainder into the prepared pan. Top with strawberry mixture and sprinkle with reserved crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Cut into bars when completely cool.

Makes about 12 bars.

Strawberry Oat Bars

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Strawberry Oat Bars