Oat bars

oat bars

These oat bars can be filled with your favourite jam or any filling which takes you creative fancy; fresh or canned fruit, dried fruit, coconut, seeds and so on.  Do try and make it with muscovado or brown sugar as it adds to the flavour.  The white flour can also be changed for wholemeal flour as an extra flavour enhancer.

I swap the butter for dairy-free margarine in my household because of my middle daughter.  These oat bars have become the breakfast-on-the-run or afterschool snack with my kids, and the perfect energy bar for cycling husband.

oat bars 1

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Strawberry jam & fresh strawberries.

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Apple butter, toasted coconut, raisins.  Top half of the oat crumble was mixed with seeds.

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Peach jam with canned peaches.  On the right, mincemeat

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Old maturing jar of mincemeat found in my cupboard was delicious in these bars.

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The jam and dried fruit filled bars will keep longer than ones with fresh fruit.

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Oat bars
Author: 
 
Pre-heat oven 180˚C / 200˚C / 400˚F / gas 6. Square tin 20cm / 8 inches.
Ingredients
  • 175g / 1½ cups oats (rolled oats, ones used for making porridge)
  • 125g / ¾c + 1tbsp plain flour
  • 175g / 1½ stick butter or dairy-free margarine
  • 150g / 1 cup sugar, muscovado or brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons jam or choice of fruit
Instructions
  1. Put the oats, flour, sugar and butter into the mixing bowl and mix by machine or by hand until oat mix appears in large crumble pieces, making certain the butter is mixed in well. Avoid making this into a dough at this stage.
  2. Divide oat mix. Scatter half on the bottom of the tin and press down to make into one even layer, now appearing as dough.
  3. Spread the jam evenly. Scatter the remaining oat mix, press around the edges with a fork to join with the bottom layer.
  4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20mins. Let it cool for 10mins in the tin before turning out and cutting it.