These bars were the result of someone on television simply mentioning oat bars and my brain deciding, yep, I want some of those. Simultaneously, my husband has been a little obsessed with fresh raspberries lately. So I thought I'll make raspberry oat bars. That's how I found Erin Lives Whole's healthy-yet-highly-rated version that are technically gluten, dairy, and refined sugar free. Since I'm still watching my sugar intake, that decision was easy!
Upon reading the recipe, I realized I didn't have any almond butter. But I did have plenty of peanut butter, and I loved the idea of a peanut butter dough complimenting the raspberry layer. Thus, these healthier yet scrummy PB&J Raspberry Oat Bars were born!
NOTE: Erin didn't strain out her raspberry seeds, so this recipe, as written, contains seeds. While the baker in me felt like I was breaking some kind of culinary law by not straining out the seeds, I also didn't want to wash any more dishes, so I didn't either. However, if seeds are a deal breaker for you, by all means, grab that sieve and strain away!
NOTE: This isn't an actual jam, which took me by surprise. I thought I was going to be making a proper jam on the stove before assembling these bars. Alas, no! At first, I was skeptical as I poured my simple mashed berry mixture over my crust base. But I'm here to tell you it works! In fact, the berry juice soaks into the oats ever so slightly and creates even more flavor, and for less effort, too!
NOTE: My grocery store only sold fresh raspberries in 6 or 12 ounce containers. So I grabbed the 12 ounce, which worked out to about 2-1/3 cups, and used them all. It still worked great!
TIP: I highly recommend lining your baking dish with parchment paper for this recipe. The cooled bars lift right out for easy cutting and serving!
PB&J Raspberry Oat Bars
(Original recipe: Erin Lives Whole)
2 C almond flour
1 C rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C plus 1 TBSP maple syrup, divided
1/2 C peanut butter
2 C fresh raspberries
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mash raspberries with a fork. Stir in 1/2 C maple syrup. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Add in maple syrup and peanut butter. Stir until everything is well combined. Set aside 1 cup of dough.
Flatten the rest of dough into the base of the 8×8 dish, pressing down firmly on the bottom.
Pour raspberry mixture over top of uncooked crust.
Crumble remainder of topping evenly over top of filling and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool completely before cutting. Store them in fridge.
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