It's been a while since I made a batch of these egg-free Blueberry Oat Bars, but my old notes stating they "are packed with berries and each bite is almost like eating blueberry pie" make them sound pretty great. I also noted that they set up pretty well in the refrigerator and slice fairly neatly" then ranted about blueberry seeds. So seeds aside, these are under-rated bars which you could easily make vegan by using vegan butter instead of dairy butter.
Blueberry Oat Bars Without Eggs
1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Filling:
1 ⅔ cup frozen blueberries
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
Heat oven to 350. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir with fork until evenly moistened (mixture will be very crumbly). Reserve ½ cup crumb mixture for topping; Press remaining mixture firmly over bottom of foil-lined pan. Bake 12 minutes to set crust.
Prepare Filling: In a small saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar and cornstarch. Stir in lemon juice. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until mixture begins to thicken slight (it won’t be too thick) and clear (about 7 minutes). Remove from heat and pour over baked crust. Crumble reserved crumb mixture over top, then sprinkle nuts over crumb mixture.
Bake 30 minutes until top is browned and filling is bubbly. Let cool completely in pan set on a wire rack. When cool, chill for an hour before cutting. Lift foil by ends onto a cutting board. Peel off foil; cut into 12 bars. Store in refrigerator, but serve at room temperature.
Makes 16 squares or 12 larger bars
Anna
Rachel, thanks for the tip on using tapioca flour!
Rachel
Made them- used an extra cup of fresh blueberries during the last 3 mins. in the sauce pan! I use tapioca flour instead of cornstarch. Yummmmmmy. Perfect!
melany rostocki
I have made these bars many times with a few variations- somer better, some not; but basically I have found that I like adding walnuts and coconut; and I also use mostly whole oats, about half the flour, and substitute quick oats for the rest of the flour. My aim is to keep the bars as "raw" or unprocessed as possible. I have had exceptional results, and they seem to hold together well even though I use so little flour- not as crumbly as some recipes!
Katherine
These are quick and delish! I used whole wheat flour to boost the fiber. I am thinking these warmed up with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream on top would make a nice dessert.
Also, I used Wyman Wild Blueberries (they sell them at Costco) and didn't have any seed issues.
Anna
Nancy, as you know, we don't have Kroger here. But it's interesting to know that some brands seem less "seedy" than others.
Claire, with 12 hour shifts, I'm amazed you find time to do any sort of cooking. You are one devoted baker/cook. I think if I were in medical school or residency, I would be baking cookies at 2 in the morning, but eating Lean Cuisines for every meal. You bake AND cook. Astonishing.
Tara, thanks for the inside scoop on huckleberry. I thought that was just another name for blueberry.
Rina, thanks for the link. Seedless jams and jellies are tricky to find. Glad to hear Whole Foods has some good ones. I need to plan a Whole Foods shopping trip.
KAnn, good luck with your transition. I think being a (healthy) vegan takes a lot of dedication and study, but it seems to be getting easier. Then again, I'm an omnivore so I don't have any first hand experience.
Jeanette, I am so glad to hear you tried the blueberry bars! Now if I'd known you'd be reading Cookie Madness, I would have really encouraged you to take the refrigerated million dollar peanut butter cookie dough vs. scratch cookie dough cookie taste test.
But like I said. I just left the cookies and went to Target ;).
Jeanette Wode
I have to say the Blueberry Oat Bar was the best thing I ate all day!!!! I was going to try the peanut butter cookies, but I decided to save the calories for later, when I came back they were pretty much gone. You have inspired me, this summer I am going to attempt one new recipe a week for my family. Thanks!!
KAnn
As I am transitioning from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet and I LOVE blueberries, I will have to give this a try...I am counting the days to blueberry season!
Rina
Hmm...if you aren't tied to the blueberries, maybe you could use seedless raspberry jam instead (available at Whole Foods)? I use this recipe pretty frequently and always have great results: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Raspberry-Oatmeal-Cookie-Bars/Detail.aspx.
Tara
In the northwest we have wild blueberries called Huckleberries. Finding them and picking them is a summer obsession in my family. They are quite a bit smaller than your average blueberry, but the taste is much more intense. They are like purple gold!
Claire
This looks wonderful! I love bars like this, but don't make them often. Mmmm!
Nancy
I buy frozen wild blueberries at Kroger. They are more expensive than regular blueberries. They don't have the seed issues that the regular ones do (maybe because they're so small). We use them in everything, but they are especially great for smoothies.
Anna
Jill, thanks so much for that tip! I will check out Doughmakers. I usually use insulated cookie sheets, but I Iike testing with a couple of different type sheets.
VG, I am a big Dreena B. fan, but this recipe was adapted from a Woman's Day recipe which was posted on a cookie newsletter. If it's similar, it's coincidence.
Laurie, I added the nuts. The bars would be fine without them. And yes, you can definitely pulse in the food processor. In fact, that's what I did. I hardly every buy quick oats. I just pulse old fashioned.
The only bad thing is these might be a little messy for the salon.
Laurie
Hi Anna. Would they work ok with no nuts and extra oatmeal in its place? Also, I only have old fashioned oats. Do you think I can pulse them a bit in the food processor and they would work?
I am making a goody tray for a friend of mine who is getting married on Saturday. All of the ladies are getting hair and makeup and they want munchies for the salon----so of course, they asked me!
VeggieGirl
Are those the bars from Dreena Burton's Food Network Canada recipe collection??
Jill
These oat bars look wonderful. I'll probably try them tonight.
And, Anna, do you know about the Doughmakers' cookie sheets? I read you make cookies everyday! I rarely make cookies but it may be because I had such changeable results on my old sheets. These are the absolute best. And, no, I don't work for them! doughmakers.com
Regards,
Jill
Anna
Yikes. That's a good question. I don't think the bars would be sweet enough or have the right texture if you just subbed it 1/2 cup for 1/2 cup. You might have to experiment or look for some recipes developed with rice syrup.
Lisa Ernst
Anna, these look great! Do you think there is there any way to substitute brown rice syrup for the brown sugar? I bought the syrup to make oat bars from another recipe and want to keep using it for this purpose. I know I would need to make some adjustments for the added liquid content.