When my freezer defrosted this week, I created a compote with several kinds of semi defrosted fruit as a kind of “quick save”. Although I’ve been eating a lot of it just mixed in to my morning yogurt, some of it went into these yummy Oatmeal Fruit Bars.
With only 5 ingredients (sans the fruit filling), all of which are pantry staples, these bars are quick and frugal!
1C Flour
1C Oats (original recipe stated quick cook, but I use reg & it’s fine)
2/3C Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2C Butter
Fruit filling
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Cut in butter. I have never like that whole “use two knives to cut in” thing, so I just get in there with my hands and keep mushing & mixing until it is combined
Reserve out 1/2C of mixture. Press the rest firmly into an 8X8 pan.
Layer on fruit filling & sprinkle reserved oat mixture on top.
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
Let cool & cut into bars.
Fruit Filling:
You have several options here. You can use a 10oz jar of preserves (homemade or store bought) or you can cook up some. If you are a confident cook, just cook some fruit, water & sugar to the consistency of pie filling. If you need a recipe, try one of these below:
Raisin Filling: Cook till thick and bubbly 1C raisins with 1/2C water, 2TBS sugar and 2TBS Cornstarch (remember to dissolve cornstarch in a bit of the cold water first)
Apple Filling: Cook 2 apples (peeled & chopped) with 2TBS Sugar, 2TBS water, a dash of lemon juice and any spices (1/2 tsp cinnamon is good). Boil, then reduce heat and simmer till thick, approx 8 min.
Enjoy
Sounds yummy.
Sounds great. I was so inspired with how you saved all of your food. I am sure you were tired at the end of that day. Question: Did you grease your pan before pressing in the oat mix?
Oh, I can’t wait to try this! I have one last bag of last year’s frozen rhubarb in the freezer and have been trying to decide what to make. This sounds perfect!
Yum! I stumbled this to try later this week, thanks! š
i even haven’t been thinking about making something like that, but now-im running to the kitchen
Awesome, and so easy to adapt. Made these, sans fruit since my guys don’t eat fruit unless it’s cobbler with ice cream! I added about 3/4 c. chopped pecans and about 1/2 to 3/4 c. Sugar Free maple syrup (I wasn’t measuring, just squirching the last bit out of the bottle, and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon to oatmeal mixture, put in pan and baked according to directions. Yummy. Oh, and used gluten-free flour, too, and Splenda brown sugar. Very tasty…got the hubs seal of approval.
Thanks Jenn. I’ll bet it’s great with fruit, too!
TWS-they are yummy!
Martie-No, you don’t have to grease the pan. There is enough butter in these that it isn’t a problem š
rmlrhonda-they would be great w/rhubarb. I can’t wait till next year when I’m allowed to pick my rhubarb-I just transplated some from a friend last year, and you are supposed to let it grow the first year to help the roots š
Steph-thanks for the stumble!
Mortgage-Ahh, I hoe yours came out well.
Carrie-so glad you were able to adapt the recipe so easily to your family’s needs. Gotta love a recipe that works that way!
I’ve made these with both strawberry & prune fillings and they worked out great! Thanks for the wonderful recipes!
Glad you enjoyed them. I just made them again myself today. I used nectarines that had a bunch of over ripe spots (cut out of course) and apples that had gone all wrinkly. . . Came out yum all mixed together and cooked down w/a bit of sugar.
Will definitely give these a try — sounds great with all those apples (and maybe even pears) that are coming up this fall. And I’m looking for some yummy alternatives for my son’s lunchbox this school year.