Sweet and Salty Blueberry Breakfast Bars

Recently my dad sent me some recipes, including an issue of Outpost Magazine, which had delicious looking recipe for a gluten-free breakfast bar. I don’t have gluten-free flour on hand, so I decided to go another route: whole wheat flour with some protein, fiber and omega-3 additions. I generally detesting using only whole-wheat flour in a dessert. I was hoping all the butter and brown sugar would cover the whole-wheat taste. And it did!

I made these sweet and salty (on accident!) by doubling the salt. But they were a huge hit with my coworkers this morning. They were gone before you know it.

ingredients.

• 1 ¾ c. gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 ½ c. gluten-free flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¾ c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 c. almonds, finely chopped (I used sliced)
• ½ tsp. salt (I used 1 tsp.)
• 1 c. butter, melted (I used browned butter)
• ½ c. pumpkin seeds
• ¼ c. chia seeds
• 2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
• ½ c. sugar
• 3 T. water
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 2 T. lemon juice

directions.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 10×10-inch baking pan (I used an 8×8-inch pan) with parchment paper, making sure it comes up all sides of the pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, brown sugar, almonds, salt, and seeds. Add browned (melted) butter and mix well. The mix should be soft and crumble. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture and press the remaining mixture firmly in the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. (I always bake the minimum amount to start with.)
3. Meanwhile, put blueberries, sugar and two tablespoons of water in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for about two minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. In a small bowl, combine remaining water, cornstarch and lemon juice. Stir into blueberry mixture until thick – it should thicken immediately. Remove from heat.
5. Spread blueberry mixture evenly over cooked crust and press remaining oat mixture onto the blueberries. Be careful – both the blueberries and the pan will be hot. For some unknown reason I tried to grab the pan with my bar hand when spreading the blueberries!
6. Bake bars 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. To cut bars, lift the entire block out of the pan using the parchment paper and peel the paper away from the sides. Store the bars in the fridge.

The only thing I would have improved with these bars would be to add some additional butter. I thought the crust was sort of dry. But that may have been as a result of all the extras I threw into it!

Recipe rating: 