Recipe: Whole Wheat Blueberry-Cinnamon Oat Bars
I can’t get enough of cinnamon (and really any fall spice…) lately…and it’s still only August! I guess I’m just looking forward to fall baking too much. These Whole Wheat Blueberry-Cinnamon Oat Bars, though, truly hit the spot–and can be easily varied to work perfectly in any season (raspberry-lemon for spring is phenomenal!). Hearty, warmly-spiced, and even pretty healthy to boot, these bars come together in under an hour with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. It’s a simple, delicious treat that can even be eaten for breakfast…it has oats in it, after all (if you’re a doctor..look away…).
I’m seriously obsessed with these Blueberry-cinnamon oat bars…like concerning levels of obsessed…they’re just so darn delicious and easy to make! Plus, I feel like I’m being healthy…even if there is enough butter in these to feed a small army. Then there’s the smell. The aroma off of these bad-boys baking in the oven is Christmas-time baking levels of amazingness…if anything, you should make these bars purely to make your house smell like everything pure and wonderful in the world 🙂
You can choose to make your own blueberry jam for these whole wheat oat bars, or (the simpler option) buy a jar from the store. I’d just recommend that you get a lower-sugar, natural (and looser, less jelly-like) jam from the store. I find that not only does the fruit flavor come through more that way, but it’s also not cloyingly-sweet either.
A huge plus to this recipe is that you can easily vary the flavors–change the jams you want to use, or even incorporate pie-filling (I’m kind of interested in making these with homemade apple-pie filling…that sounds amazing!). You can also change the spices you use in the crust, and even throw in some ground-up loose-leaf tea for extra flavor (among other things!). They truly can be customized however you’d like!
I’m seriously obsessed with these delicious, easy-to-make blueberry-cinnamon oat bars. Check out the recipe here:
Whole Wheat Blueberry-Cinnamon Oat Bars Recipe
Equipment
- 9 x 13 inch baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour Feel free to substitute whole wheat pastry or white whole wheat flour here if you want a lighter taste.
- 1 tbsp. lemon zest (around 1 lemon zested)
- 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt If using salted butter, only add 1/4 tsp.
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
- 1 8-oz jar blueberry jam, or equal amount homemade blueberry jam This amount can be variable depending on how much jam you want sandwiched in between. The amount listed here is for a relatively thin layer of jam–if you want it extra "jammy" feel free to use more.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (including lemon zest), making sure that there are no clumps of brown sugar.
- Using your fingers, work in the softened butter into the dry mixture. Continue until it comes together into a cohesive dough (there shouldn't be spots of flour anywhere).
- Press a little less than 2/3rds of the dough into your baking pan, making sure to keep the layer even. I find that using your palms rather than your fingers for the brunt of the work is best.
- With a large spoon or rubber spatula, spread the jam evenly across the crust. Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the jam, if desired.
- Crumble the rest of the dough across the jam, making sure the top is evenly covered (there still will be small spots of jam peeking through, through).
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until jam is bubbling and the top crumble looks lightly browned and set.
- Let cool before slicing and eating (unless you want to be burned royally by piping hot jam…not speaking from personal experience, of course…).
Notes
For another delicious bar recipe, check out our Apple-Butter Snickerdoodle bars. Happy baking, everyone!
