These Raspberry Oatmeal Bars are easy healthy breakfast bars with a crunchy oat cookie layer topped with homemade raspberry chia seeds jam and oat crumble.
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the crust ingredients: oat flour, rolled oats, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
Squeeze the batter with your hands to bring all the ingredients in contact and create a dough that sticks together. If too dry (may happen if you are using coarse oat flour), add 1-2 tablespoons of water, add 1 at a time, until the dough is soft and stick together.
Press 1 3/4 cup of the dough all over the baking dish, using a spatula to smoothen the dough and make sure there is no hole left. Set aside leftover dough in a small mixing bowl in the fridge. You will use it for the crumble on top of the bar.
Place the pan in the fridge while you make the raspberry chia seed jam.
Raspberry chia seed jam
In a small saucepan, add the raspberries, coconut sugar, and chia seeds.
Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat until bubbles form on the sides of the pan.
Mash the raspberries using a fork or potato masher and keep cooking for 2 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the jam from burning. It should slightly thicken but still be very runny. It will thicken in the oven, don't worry.
Remove from heat and stir in almond extract and vanilla extract
Pour the jam on top of the prepared crust, then use the remaining dough to crumble all other the bar.
Bake the bar for 35 minutes at 350°F (180°C) or until crispy on top and golden.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack.
Cool for 3 hours or until it reaches room temperature before slicing it into 16 bars. Waiting will prevent the bar from crumbling, and the jam will set perfectly.
Note 1: You can replace the oat flour with the same amount of all-purpose flour or spelt flour. However, the dough might need 1-2 tablespoons of water to hold together.
Note 2: Any liquid sweetener works.
Note 3: You can replace the coconut oil by any other oil, including melted plant-based butter
Note 4: use any sweetener like regular sugar if preferred or maple syrup
Note 5: You can swap three tablespoons of chia seeds with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or corn flour.
Storage: Store the oatmeal bars in the pantry in an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. Otherwise, freeze and defrost the day before breakfast.