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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Blueberry-Oat Bars

Blueberry-Oat BarsSometimes I really miss living in the country. When I was growing up, acquiring fresh blueberries was just a matter of walking outside and picking them from one of the bushes in our yard. Getting my blueberry fix these days takes a little more effort. For the past few summers, E and I have visited a local U-pick blueberry farm where we'd spend an hour or so in the sun and come home with a couple of gallons of blueberries, some to be eaten immediately and most to be frozen for later.

Well, this year "our" U-pick farm has gone out of business, and we haven't succeeded in finding another. So we've had to make do with the next best thing: organically grown blueberries from the local natural foods store. When I saw them there a few days ago, I just had to pick up a pint; even though the cost was several times what I'd pay to pick my own, blueberries are such a part of summer to me that I couldn't pass them up.

Besides, I really needed them to make these bars, which I'd been craving for a few weeks. You won't believe how healthy they are: no refined flour, no white sugar, no added fat, no soy, and no gluten*. They're not super-sweet, but they're full of fresh fruity taste.

Blueberry-Oat Bars

Blueberry-Oat Bars
(printer-friendly version)

If you prefer a sweeter bar, add more agave nectar, sugar, stevia, or your favorite sweetener to the blueberries as they are cooking. Or add a sugar glaze on top by mixing a little vegan powdered sugar with water until it's the right consistency for drizzling.

1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with enough water or juice to form a smooth paste

3 cups oatmeal* (regular, not instant)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces unsweetened applesauce
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) agave nectar
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) water
1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat oven to 375F. Oil an 8x8-inch baking dish.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, agave nectar, and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the vanilla and the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a blender and grind it to a fine powder. Pour it into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, agave nectar, water, and vanilla, and mix well.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing well to cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon the blueberry filling over the batter, and cover the blueberries with the remaining batter.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

*Use gluten-free oats to make these gluten-free.

Makes 16 bars. Each contains 117 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 81mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers 2 Flex Points.

Blueberry-Oat Bars

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60 Comments:

Blogger Katy said...

These look delicious! I'm going to try them tomorrow!

4:12 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger Courtney said...

Oh wow--these look SO good, Susan! I am always shocked by the price of blueberries--even the conventional ones are pricey! I will have to "splurge" on some soon, though, in order to make these bars. They look too good to pass up!

Courtney

4:53 PM, July 15, 2008  
Anonymous Melissa C said...

Gluten-free oats? I never heard of such a thing. I thought oats were oats. Can you explain? Thanks. :o)

5:02 PM, July 15, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if i were to make these with sugar or splenda instead of agave nectar what measurements should i use?

5:31 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger shelby said...

Ahh these look too good! Even though I have made enough baked goods to last a month I must try these out soon!

5:33 PM, July 15, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These look so yummy!!! Do you think frozen blueberries will work in the recipe? I also have some frozen blackberries that I picked and froze earlier this summer. Wonder how these would work? :)

5:39 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger SusanV said...

Melissa C., as I understand it, oats are naturally gluten-free. But when they are grown and processed, they are often contaminated with gluten from other grains. Some companies guarantee that their oats are grown and processed to be gluten-free. Unfortunately, some people with celiac disease are still sensitive to oats and can't eat even the gluten-free ones.

Anonymous, the agave in the blueberries could be replaced 1-to-1 with sugar (and probably splenda, but I've never used it so I can't say for sure). In the crust, you may have to add more water if you substitute a dry sweetener for the agave. Just add enough extra to make a medium-thick batter.

Anonymous #2--I think both kinds of frozen berries would work great here.

5:49 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger Some call me... rocky said...

Hi Susan,

these look great! Do you think they would freeze well? I think I might try using raspberries as well...

Thanks again!

6:23 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger Suganya said...

Ain't that a lovely photo (the last one)... Color splash done right.

8:54 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger Emily said...

These look incredible! I've never used agave nectar, but I (a non-vegan) always have honey around. Do you know if honey can replace agave nectar 1:1?

9:18 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger Kalyn said...

Great recipe! Saving it right now.

9:43 PM, July 15, 2008  
Anonymous Mary Frances said...

mmm...this sent me to the freezer for a handful of frozen blueberries (which for some reason were salty...haven't figured that one out!). I'll definitely be making these the next time I break down and pay a fortune for GF oats.

9:47 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger The P & A Food Chronicles said...

these are the best ones i've seen goint to save it this instant!!

10:11 PM, July 15, 2008  
Anonymous moonwatcher said...

Hi Susan,

These look so beautiful and delicious that when the blueberries arrive at our farmer's market, temperatures permitting, I just may have to break my rule of not turning the oven on in the middle of summer. . blueberries and oats are two of my favorite foods. . and this seems like a lovely improvisation on the skinny figgy bars, which are so dear to my heart and taste buds. . .sad that your organic u-pick blueberries have gone away. . that sounds like a wonderful summer mother-daughter outing, and now memory. The photos are scrumptious too. lol

11:18 PM, July 15, 2008  
Blogger jessmc said...

so glad i found your blog. :)
i am GOING to make those bars! yumma.

2:26 AM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger dd03 said...

Hi, Susan!

Can I just say I love the way you add the calorie content to your recipes...especially the ww points! Thank for that!

Also, you can add milk/dairy free to your recipe! Love finding yummy desserts not filled with a cream of some sort in it!
Double thanks!!
^.^

6:01 AM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger soybeanlover said...

Thank you, this looks great! I just stumbled here, and I'm so excited! I'm pregnant and my body won't let me eat meat or high fat anything...you are a life saver, literally!

8:51 AM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger Karina said...

Those bars look delicious. And yeah, what's up with the crazy cost of fresh blueberries? Here you get a scant cup for $4 to $5!

9:06 AM, July 16, 2008  
Anonymous melissa said...

Blueberries are my biggest weakness but they're just so expensive here! And I gave up sugar a few months ago so I'm not even sure why I clicked on this story in my feed reader, - I guess I was just going to live vicariously through the photos or something.

But O. M. G.! Agave nectar! I love you! I don't care if buying these blueberries means I eat boiled rice for the rest of the week, I'm making these!!

9:07 AM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger Deb Schiff said...

Those look amazing!

9:12 AM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger Erin said...

These look so good! A mostly guilt-free summer treat. Thanks for the recipe!

9:43 AM, July 16, 2008  
Anonymous Rebecka said...

Wow, this is such an amacing recipe! All natural sweeteners and low fat content. I have to try these! :)

1:16 PM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger Kelleen - Picks Over Peas said...

I just picked 5 pounds of blueberries at my nearby organic U-pick. I love putting them in my morning oatmeal with some agave nector so I definitely have to give this a try. What a wonderful alternative to cobbler or buckle.

1:19 PM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger Yo Soy! said...

This is way too perfect--I was just looking around for a recipe for a vegan breakfast treat to make to convince my coworkers that there is a good healthy, vegan answer to their croissants, danishes, etc. I am absolutely going to try making this this weekend. Thanks!!!

1:50 PM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger bbg. said...

thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! the pictures are beautiful and make me want to go out and buy some blueberries asap! this recipe fits all of my difficult dietary requirements and i can't wait to try it :)

2:00 PM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger herbivore said...

Thank you! I just had a much more unhealthy version of these at a place in flagstaff. I have been dying for them! I can't wait to try them. I could make them for breakfast, or for desert :)

3:43 PM, July 16, 2008  
Blogger bee said...

these are truly good for the body, eyes and soul.

7:27 PM, July 16, 2008  
Anonymous earlysnow said...

In our family we've been making blueberry bars for years every summer that are far from healthy (but taste great)in a recipe handed down from my mom. But I can't wait to try these! Susan, your photos are always wonderful, but these are so outstanding that I could eat my monitor, your photos of cut pieces look that delicious. Mmmmmmm.

2:19 AM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger prairiedweller said...

For Melissa C and the oat question:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/21550/1/Another-Study-Okays-Oats-for-Celiac-Patients/Page1.html

It seems that not so much oats, but contamination continue to be the problem for celiacs.

2:26 AM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger Sunshinemom said...

Those are very yummy looking bars, Susan. I too remember my sis and me getting all purple stained and dirty every day picking black berries from the trees in the backyard (Jamuns)! Those were tastier and much more satisfying than buying them off the shelves! I was going to try a similar thing but with apricots inside a pie - May not be fat free though:)

6:18 AM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger jessy said...

these look wonderful, Susan! i think i'm going to make some this weekend. i have a TON of blackberries growing in the field behind my house and i'm gonna pick some more & try this recipe with some of them (because i'm a weird girl who doesn't like blueberries! gasp!)! :) thanks so much for sharing another stellar recipe! your recipes are always the best! :D

8:48 AM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger NinaBean said...

Susan_
Thanks so much for this recipe..
i have a story about them.. i tried them today and..
so i didn't have class today so i went out and bought all the stuff and made it up..
and it was working fantastically!! i was really proud of myself..
and the timer went off.. 30 minutes.. ding ding ding..
so i went and took the bars out of the oven.. and they looked perfect!! i mean just like the picture on the blog.. and they smelled fantastic..
i put them on the back burner so that i wouldn't burn the white part on the stove.. and i went to email a professor
so i was typing away.. and smelled burning.. and a lot of burning..and i look into the kitchen and there is smoke coming from my pan of blueberry oat bars!!!!! oh my gosh!
i thought for a second.. okay.. i will cut them so the steam can get out.. and it will stop smoking.. i lifted up the bottom of the pan and noticed the entire bottom was burnt! black.. charcoal black AHHHHH.
in the recipe it called for a medium boil of the blueberry and agave nectar and vanilla.. well for 40 mins at least that back burner had been on and when i set the pan on the burner it charred the bottom of my blueberry oat bars! ugh.. i'm so silly.
i shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen by myself EVER! wow.
but.. the top part of the bars is perfect still.. it's more like blueberry cobbler without a bottom crust now..
next time:
i will remember to turn that stupid burner off so that one-i don't burn the house down and 2-i don't burn my perfect blueberry oat bars.
hahahaha..
hope this made you laugh..
thanks again for the recipe. ;)

2:42 PM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger Bianca said...

Yum!!!! I wish I had some blueberries right now so I could make those. Your pictures are beautiful!

4:50 PM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger Allen said...

These look so good and I'm happy to see they are so healthy as well. My sweet tooth has been going crazy lately and these might just solve my problem :-)

7:15 PM, July 17, 2008  
Blogger Kevin said...

Those look so good!

9:20 PM, July 17, 2008  
Anonymous Erin said...

Susan, my mouth is watering. Thanks for the great recipe! I will be making these tonight for company.

A question, though... the food stats (THANK YOU for always putting these at the end of your recipes; so helpful!) bases its information on 16 servings. Is that right? The picture you posted is how probably everyone cuts them... 9 servings per pan.

Just loving the idea of the 2-point scrumptious blueberry bar and hoping it's true, that's all : )

2:47 PM, July 18, 2008  
OpenID mad about udon said...

Oh, yum! I'll have to tried these. They look perfect for a summer picnic, like the one I'm attending this weekend. Hopefully the weather will co-operate. Or else I'll be stuck sitting on the couch eating a whole tray of blueberry-oat bars. Hmm... maybe that wouldn't be so bad actually :-)

2:48 PM, July 18, 2008  
Blogger SusanV said...

Erin, I actually did cut them into 16 bars, but only 9 fit on that plate. They're small, about 1 x 1.5 inches, I'd say, and two of them is probably right for breakfast or a substantial snack.

2:59 PM, July 18, 2008  
Anonymous Amber said...

Susan-

I just love all your recipes and am so glad you posted this! I was just about to make a version off your Skinny-Figgy recipe after staring at my huge abundance of fresh berries I got last weekend at a nearby u-pick farm. These came out fantastic! Delicious!

Amber

3:55 PM, July 18, 2008  
Blogger jessy said...

reporting back (yay!): thanks again for the rock'n recipe! it's indeed another great one - and super yummy! dan & i made your bars with some of the blackberries we picked and they were AWESOME! we're gonna freeze half of the batch for later - but i'm working on finishing off the first half as i type. they're sooooo good! especially with a little spoonful of vegan vanilla ice cream on top! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

6:15 PM, July 19, 2008  
Anonymous Heather said...

I just made these! I cut them into 9 bars so they were about 200 cals each... a great healthy dessert!

I bought my blueberries at Costco so they were super cheap... not organic though.

9:06 PM, July 19, 2008  
Blogger zlamushka said...

These look absolutely divine. Susan, you probably heard I am hosting Tried And Tasted event each month, where we cook from Blog Of The Month. This month, we are featuring What´s For Lunch, Honey? and it is a lot of fun. I have always admired your site, so dare to ask, would you volunteer FFV to be Tried And Tasted? Come over to my blog for more details...

9:34 AM, July 20, 2008  
Blogger Bambi said...

Mmm... I just made these yesterday. My mom and brother ate most of them before I could take a picture though! I just started a little vegan blog and I wanted to post something about them, but now I've got no photo. Oh well, they were delicious anyways :)
(I love your blog, by the way.)

11:10 PM, July 20, 2008  
Blogger David said...

Hi Susan, I made these the other night and they came out quite good I'd say! Thanks so much. Question though -- I find the "crust" a bit softer than I would like. Granted it's not much more than just plain oatmeal. Anyway to get the bottom/top crust a bit crisper or crumbly? The taste is great, but I find myself wishing the crust wasn't so soft and chewy. Thanks! P.S. The chance I did something wrong is always there -- I somehow didn't have enough oatmeal "batter" left to cover the entire top. Maybe I put it too thick on the bottom of the pan.

10:10 AM, July 21, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What do you mean by regular oats?

Quick cooking (3-5 minutes bubbling on the burner kind?), "old fashioned" (10-15 minutes on the burner) or steel cut oats?

Why are there so many kinds of oats!?

1:31 PM, July 21, 2008  
Blogger SusanV said...

Old fashioned oats. Though quick cooking will probably work, I haven't made this with them.

1:46 PM, July 21, 2008  
Anonymous Katie said...

Thanks for the recipe, Susan! I just made these and they are great--sweet but healthy tasting. For anyone who's interested in conversions, I used half honey and half sugar whenever the recipe called for agave and got a really nice texture.

4:11 PM, July 21, 2008  
Anonymous kimmykokonut said...

i need to try these! i love bars but find they are usually too sweet for my taste. have you tried maple syrup in place of agave? i wonder if it's too strong?

2:39 PM, July 22, 2008  
Blogger Erndog said...

These were good, but with the addition of lemon zest would have been even better. I ended up grating some over the top...but next time it will go in with the berries and maybe even a bit of the juice too. I'm not a vegan, so ate them with a dollop of Greek yogurt. :-)

3:50 PM, July 22, 2008  
Blogger VeggieGirl said...

Since I JUST found out that I am allergic to wheat/gluten, I DEFINITELY appreciate this recipe, Susan - but you knew I'd love it anyway, since you're the one who ignited my passion for baking :0)

9:48 PM, July 22, 2008  
Blogger Aimee said...

These were wonderful, I posted them on my blog today. Although I goofed up by using the wrong measuring cup (1/3 cup and I thought it was the 1/2 cup) so I only used 2 cups instead of 3 cups of oats, they were still wonderful even though the top didn't get covered all of the way!!

8:28 AM, July 23, 2008  
Blogger Jessica said...

I just made these they are fantastic! I love your blog thanks so much!

2:30 PM, July 23, 2008  
Blogger Erndog said...

I had another go at these today for a friend who's had to go off dairy while nursing...can I just say...delish! I squeezed 1/2 a lemon in the berries, added the zest of 1/2 a lemon to the batter, and used a little more salt and cinnamon. Perfect! :-)

9:57 PM, July 24, 2008  
Blogger robotslingshot said...

These look lovely! I was just looking for a recipe to feature my blueberries in.

yum.

8:39 AM, July 25, 2008  
Blogger Aimei said...

Hi, I'm someone who loves cooking and baking, enjoy good food and yet health conscious. COntradicting yeah? I try to eat in moderation and keep a healthy lifestyle. So glad to found your blog. :)

Oh ya what's agave nectar by the way?

9:50 AM, July 30, 2008  
Blogger blueangel said...

Wow I just made my own slightly less healthy version of these bars with what I had around me and the recipe is really great! Thanks so much for the inspiration. I never knew porridge oats could taste so gorgeous!!!

4:19 PM, August 02, 2008  
Anonymous moonwatcher said...

Hi Susan,

I was wondering if you could give us a tip on how you spread the top layer of oat dough over the berries without smooshing the berries out to the edge. . .I made this with an overflow of raspberries from my backyard, and substituted cardamom for the cinnamon. They tasted great, but I really had a hard time getting the top layer to spread, and had to sort of plop it. So the berries squished out more than I would have like them to. But I just put them in the fridge and they kept their shape well once cut that way. . .and, they were delicious. . .but anyway,
any secrets about spreading that top layer? Even dipping my fingers in cold water didn't help much this time. . .I'll want to try this again when we have blueberries around here, and with my own blackberries. . .:)

thanks,

moonwatcher

5:50 PM, August 05, 2008  
Blogger SusanV said...

Moonwatcher, I had the same trouble. I wound up dropping it by spoonfuls over the blueberries and then smoothing it as best I could over them. I wonder if adding a little bit of water would make it easier to smooth and still work. I may have to try a variation next time.

5:54 PM, August 05, 2008  
Blogger Nicoleliza said...

These are delicious! I have made them twice already :)

12:27 PM, August 12, 2008  
Blogger Gaia @ Viva Granola said...

Thanks for this wonderful recipe, Susan! I love them!
And I'll be making them often with all the blueberry picking I've been doing :)

11:12 AM, August 21, 2008  

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