Blueberry Oat Bars

Welcome to What’s Cooking Wednesday, hosted by Tales from the Fairy Blogmother. Be sure to check out the other recipes submitted for WCW.

I initially found this Blueberry-Oats Bar recipe over at FatFree Vegan Kitchen, which has been a wonderful website for dairy-free cooking inspiration as I adjust to cutting dairy out.

I tweaked the recipe a bit to cut down on the agave because I love the tartness of wild blueberries and because I wanted to be able to eat them as breakfast without starting off my day with something too sweet. I made these twice – the first time with regular organic oats and the second time with gluten-free oats – and both were successful.

Susan of FatFree Vegan Kitchen very kindly gave me permission to reproduce the recipe here – I changed the approach to the blueberry filling, but the oats part of the bars is very similar to Susan’s original recipe.

1 pint blueberries
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons tapioca mixed with apple juice to form a smooth paste

3 cups oatmeal (regular, not instant)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces unsweetened applesauce
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) agave nectar
6 tablespoons (3/8 cup) apple juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F. Oil an 8×8-inch baking dish.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries and apple juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the agave. Then add the vanilla and the tapioca starch mixture. Continue to stir as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a food processor and grind it to a fine texture {I think of this as oatmeal “flour”}. Pour oatmeal “flour” into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, agave nectar, juice, and vanilla, and mix well.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing well to cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon the blueberry filling over the batter, and cover the blueberries with the remaining batter.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.