Vegan Strawberry Breakfast Bars

Summer brings sales in the fresh produce section. This shopping trip I loaded up on grapes and strawberries. I got home, ripped all the grapes off the twigs they come on and put them in freezer bags. My husband loves eating frozen grapes in milk. I didn’t have a plan for the strawberries so I went online for some inspiration. I decided to try a recipe by YummiestFood.com and adjusted it to fit a vegan diet.




I pulled out a medium sized bowl and started gathering my ingredients. I dumped in a cup of rolled oats first. I prefer rolled oats to quick oats because quick oats tend to lose texture after baking. I don’t like mushy oatmeal bars. Next I added three quarters of a cup all purpose flour, a half cup of light brown sugar, one half teaspoon ground ginger, and a sprinkle of salt. I stirred everything together thoroughly. Make sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar so it mixes evenly throughout.

After the dry ingredients were mixed up I set the bowl aside. I put eight tablespoons of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in a small glass bowl and heated it until it melted. About thirty seconds in the microwave. I added the resulting fluid to the dry ingredients and mixed it up thoroughly. I took out a half cup of the mixture to use for the topping later. I turned my oven on and heated it to 375 degrees. This was a tricky part for me because my oven is a bit old and doesn’t heat itself properly. Thankfully I have a little hanging oven thermometer that I put inside to tell me what the real temperature is. For my oven, 410 is equal to 375 degrees. I got out my eight by eight inch pan and lined it with oven-grade parchment paper. The kind I use has information on the side that says how high of a temperature it can withstand. I put the bowl of oat mixture into the pan and pressed it down until it was entirely flattened into the pan. Then I set about dicing the strawberries.

It took almost a whole thirty-two ounce container of strawberries to get two cups worth of shredded bits. I dumped the strawberries in the pan and spread them out. Then I sprinkled three teaspoons of flour on top, two tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of granulated cane sugar. Last but not least, I crumbled on the oat mixture that I saved earlier.

I baked it for about 30 minutes until the top became golden brown. I put it on a wire rack to cool down. Once it was safe to touch, I transferred the whole thing, including the wire rack, into the refrigerator to finish cooling for about an hour. Once it was finished cooling I removed it from the refrigerator and lifted the parchment paper out of the pan. I spread the parchment out flat, pulling it away from the sides of the bars. Then I used a knife to slice the bars and lifted them off the parchment onto the plate with a spatula. This recipe makes about 9-12 bars, depending on how big you cut them.

Vegan Strawberry Breakfast Bars

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 24
10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Oat Mixture:

2 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup light brown sugar
1 Teaspoons ginger
1/4 Teaspoons Salt


Fruit Mixture:

4 Cups Strawberry pieces


Toppings:

6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar


INSTRUCTIONS

Stir together rolled oats, flour, sugar, ginger and salt.

Lower the microwave power to seven, if possible. Heat butter until melted. If power cannot be lowered, cover the container with a loose covering to prevent splatter.

Combine butter with dry mixture. Set aside one cup of this mixture for later use as a topping.

Line an 11x17 inch baking dish with oven-safe parchment paper. Press oat mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare fruit. Wash strawberries, remove leaves and dice. Layer on top of the oat mixture in the pan.

Use a sifter to evenly spread six tablespoons of flour over the top of the fruit mixture. This acts as a thickening agent.

Use a spray bottle to mist the top with four tablespoons of lemon juice.

Crumble two tablespoons of brown sugar evenly over the dish.

Top with the reserved cup of oat mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes. It's wise to take a peek around the 20-25 minute mark to make sure the bars aren't over-browning.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack until pan is safe to touch. Then put these bars in the refrigerator to get nice and cold. Once the bars are cooled off, lift the parchment out of the pan and place on a large cutting board. My recipe makes 12-15 squares.