Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
2 2/3 cups oats
1/3 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup dried fruit
2/3 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)
1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 medium bananas, mashed
1 liquid egg replacer (I use Ener G)
1/3 cup canola oil
1-2 tablespoons agave nectar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Add mashed bananas, prepared egg replacer, oil and sweetener and mix well until blended and mixture is sticky. Add water, as needed for a sticky consistency.
3. Shape dough into bars on prepared cookie sheet, making the bars about 1/3" thick. I would definitely recommend shaping all the bars at one time, because the longer the dough sits, the stickier it gets.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.
I make these for my husband in lieu of buying him store bought breakfast bars. They are healthier and cheaper.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I liked this. They were chewier than I expected. I think I was expecting a crunchy granola bar type. But this was good. There are endless possibilities. I put in dried cranberries, dried blueberries, raisins, chunks of dried apricot, applesauce and brown sugar (to make it a little sweeter). I liked someone else's idea of putting chocolate on top. I mixed chocolate with almond butter and put a thin layer on top. The whole time I was doing this, I was questioning if it was a good idea. Should I do some with chocolate and some without? Without chocolate would be healthier for my 2 year old, but if he sees some have chocolate, he'll want those. Maybe if I put chocolate on them, he'll be more likely to eat them. Maybe I shouldn't put chocolate on any of them, because if I do it to this batch, he'll always expect it. Maybe he'll just eat the chocolate off the top and not eat the good parts. All that was going through my head. In the end, I put chocolate/almond butter on all of the them. And yes, he just ate the chocolate off the top.
can I use silken tofu instead of the egg replacer?
Yum, both kids loved these!
I ended up using 1/4c brown sugar for the sweetener and subbed applesauce for the oil. Mine were SUPER damp when I shaped them to bake(we're talking, I almost added some more oats to make them a little easier to work with), but they ended up great... very moist after baking. I do think I will use some additional spices next time... maybe pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon.... they are very good, but could use a little more flavor.
I've made granola squares before( never shaped them into bars), but my kids went nuts over these. They LOVE granola bars, and I like knowing exactly what is in them.
Good recipe :)
I did make quite a few substitutions: I didn't have bananas so I just used more applesauce, I used about 4 tablespoons of honey (I'm not 100% vegan:)), put 2 cups of rolled oats, .5 cups of cooked amaranth (an awesome superfood seed similar to quinoa). I cooked it in a glass tray as one giant piece and for some reason it took a lot longer to cook. I think I may have used too much applesauce and I think the amaranth was too moist. Overall though, this recipe was a great starting point!
These were pretty good. I believe someone else commented on how they could use a little more sweetner. I agree. I used turbinado sugar. Maybe next time some brown sugar AND maple syrup. Also, I didn't mold mine into bars. I sprayed a 13x9 with non-stick and baked them that way. I didn't need extra water and I also used applesauce in place of oil. They stuck together nicely and didn't crisp up too much. I think my hubby will enjoy them.
;)b Oh my, these are sooooo good! Perfect for breakfast on the run, very filling and good to keep you regular, if you know what I mean ;)
I made a few changes as I didn't have some of the same ingrediants (eg. I exchanged bananas for other things) and sprinkled choc chips throughout. Even my hubby loved them.
Thanks for the recipe.
is it okay to use quick cooking oats?! that's all i've got on hand.
I have looked for a breakfast bar recipe that was not loaded with unnecessary sugar and fat for some time, and this one was great! I did make some changes that turned out well. I did not have any dried fruit, but I added a grated carrot and a grated apple. I used molasses for the sweetener and chopped almonds for the nuts. I pressed the mixture into an oiled 9x13 pan and cut it into 12 bars while warm. They turned out to be about 2x4x1/2 inches, and kept me full until lunch time! I also wrapped them in waxed paper and put them in the freezer. Worked great. Thanks for such a fantastic recipe!
This was AMAZING! :)>>>
I made mine with peanuts, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips. Unless you really like the taste of peanuts, I suggest mixing peanuts with another nut of some sort since the peanuts really over-powered. Surprisingly, I wasn't crazy about the chocolate chips in the bar. I usually LOVE chocolate with anything I est, but this didn't seem appropriate with it.
I LOVED the cranberries, though! They really made it irresistible!
I am making more tonight! ;)b
Cheap and healthy to make! I also tried to freeze mine, perfect to take out of the freezer and snack on. I'll be making this one again for sure!
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