Gluten-Free Blackberry Oat Bars
Andrea Potischman
Sep 16, 2018
Gluten-free and vegan-friendly, these blackberry oat bars may just become your new favorite treat. Fresh blackberries are the feature of these tasty bars. Sweet, yet tart with great texture. Thankfully, fresh berries are available well into the cool Fall months and here in California even longer. Oat and almond flour make the base of this simple dessert, which is easy to whip up in under an hour. Bars and brownies are always great go-to options for any last-minute get-together, and they work well for school lunches and weekend gatherings or in my house, breakfast on a busy morning.
In the Summer my boys and I go berry picking. We normally come home with more berries than we planned for. This year, I was prepared and I had developed this recipe for blackberry oat bars beforehand. Blackberries are healthful, they are loaded with vitamin C, and vitamin K, and are loaded with fiber.
Truthfully, you could use just about any type of berry in these oat bars so freshly picked Summer berries are not a requirement to make them. I intentionally skipped raspberries in this recipe as I already have my favorite raspberry oatmeal coconut bar recipe I’ve been making forever. If you’ve made those and enjoyed them, chances are you will like them as well. Since these bars use fresh fruit, they are a bit moister. These are also gluten-free and vegan-friendly, which is an added plus for many. So if you’re looking for an easy berry dessert (or breakfast), give this a try–I think you’ll be pleased.
Gluten-Free Blackberry Oat Bars
Ingredients:
- 3 cups whole-grain oats
- 1 cup almond flour
- Dash of salt
- 1/2 cup refined coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons almond butter
- 2 pints of fresh blackberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. Note: The easiest way to do this is to cut two strips of parchment paper and crisscross them in the pan.
- In a food processor, such as a Cusinart fitted with a blade attachment, add the oats, almond flour, and salt. Blend well. Add the melted coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and almond butter. Pulse to blend.
- Place 2/3 of the oat mixture in the prepared baking pan. Reserve the remaining 1/3 for the crumble topping. Using your hands, press firming to form a bottom crust layer. Lightly prick the dough with a fork or paring knife to prevent bubbling. Place in the oven and pre-bake for 10 minutes to set.
- While the crust is baking, place the blackberries and sugar in a food processor and pulse to rough chop the berries and incorporate the sugar.
- Remove the baking pan from the oven and evenly spread the blackberry filling on top. Sprinkle the remaining crumble topping on top of the blackberries. Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until slightly golden. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
YUM!! I skipped the sugar in the berries (they were plenty sweet) and did all honey (no brown sugar). Turned out GREAT!
Excellent. Love that you adapted it to your own taste, well done Karen!