Strawberry Almond Oat Bars
This is a fresh fruit, summer vacation twist on Karen DeMasco’s Back-To-School Bars – using fresh strawberries, almonds, and vanilla for a sweet, salty, buttery, crispy, and soft granola bar that you will want to eat every day. Because this uses fresh fruit instead of jam like in the original recipe, the bake time is slightly longer.
You can modify this recipe for seasonal fruit all summer long. It comes together in one bowl with almost no effort at all.
Ingredients
For an 8” square baking pan:
190g | 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
115g | 1 cup slivered almonds, chopped almonds, or any kind of nut or seed
115g | 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
65g | 1/3 cup white sugar
75g | 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
3g | 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3g | 1 teaspoon baking powder
170g | 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
5g | 1 tsp vanilla extract
350g | 1 pint strawberries, cut in half
For a 9” pan – Multiply by 1.25
For a 13x9” pan – Multiply by 1.80
Modifications:
To make vegan, place the butter with melted coconut oil (virgin coconut oil will add a coconut flavour).
To make gluten free, replace the flour with a 50/50 mix of brown rice flour and potato starch:
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (175°C): Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and line an 8x8” baking pan with two sheets of parchment, leaving handles sticking up to lift the cookie out of the baking pan later.
Make the crumble: In a large bowl, add the flour, almonds, oats, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir very well ensuring there are no clumps of salt or baking powder.
Add the vanilla to the melted butter. Add the butter to the dry ingredients. Stir until no more dry flour is visible, then switch to your hands. Mix until you can squeeze the mixture together and it forms into clumps.
Assemble in the pan: Add 2/3 of the oat crumble to the lined baking pan and press it firmly to create an even layer. Slice your strawberries in half, then add to your pan in an even layer. Top with the remaining 1/3 of the crumble and press gently. It’s okay if some strawberries are still visible.
Bake: Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the top is golden brown, the visible strawberries look roasted, and the strawberry juices are bubbling at the edges.
Cool, then slice: Allow to cool for at least 1 hour, ideally 3 hours. If you remove these from the baking pan early they will crumble. They should cool until the butter is firm. Slice into a 3x3 or 4x5 grid, depending if you want squares or bars.
Store: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days.
Create your own variations
You can create variations on this all summer long as fresh fruit changes with the seasons – try peaches with pecans, cooked apples with walnuts, Concord grapes and peanuts, blueberries with lemon zest. There are endless option!
