November 10, 2009

Spelt and Oat Fruit Bars


 I don't feel much like talking today except to say that these are lovely, simple, and very adaptable breakfast bars.  Reminiscent of something you'd find at a small town B&B.  Great with yogurt, coffee, or tea.

Spelt and Oat Fruit Bars
Adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

Ingredients
1 ¼ cups spelt flour
1 ¾ cups oatmeal
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons butter (to ensure a crisp crumble topping)
1 ¼ cups naturally sweetened fruit preserves [I used no sugar added white peach and blackberry- thanks Julia!]

Preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients together (spelt flour, 1 ½ cups oats, salt, cinnamon, baking soda).

2. In a second bowl, whisk the brown sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extracts and applesauce. Add in the dry mixture, and mix to incorporate. It should look like cookie batter at this point.

3. Spray a 8×8 baking pan with cooking spray. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread the preserves evenly over the bottom layer.

4. With the remaining mix, add another ¼ cup oats and 2tbsp of butter. Mix with your fingers. Crumble it on top of the preserve layer.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is a bit crispy. Let them cool a bit before cutting.

2 comments:

Pamela said...

Yum! These look incredible. Maybe I'll make some for my mom - she needs fast breakfast and these would probably do the trick. What do you think if I added maybe frozen raspberries, or something to give it a slighter heft and make it more filling? Any suggestions?

Lynna said...

maybe you could add some nuts to the base of the bar? that would definitely make them more substantial. frozen raspberries might make them too soft but you could use no sugar added raspberry preserves for the fruit part (or make your own?).