Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

When it comes to baking in Switzerland, my kitchen supplies are pretty limited (which is partly why I love baking when I visit my family). I have an abundance of cookie sheets, one cake form, and 2 different sized baking dishes. I have to say that I miss making muffins and cupcakes, but on the plus side, I've actually started making more cookies and bars. I actually really love bars, whether they're lemon bars, hello dollies, or pecan bars. After craving sweets (again) and being unable to find the ingredients I really wanted (again), I opted to make these simple bars. The recipe is extremely forgiving and easy to adjust to your liking. I loved the gooey bites full of strawberry jam and was very happy with this end result. They also tasted great 2 days later (I wouldn't know anything beyond that since that's when the last square was eaten).

Make this recipe with whatever jam you like or have at home. I had a huge jar of strawberry jam at home, so that's what I used. Anything from apricot to raspberry jam would be excellent in this. You can also add whatever spices you like to the dough base if you want to switch it up a bit. I'm sure you could substitute some whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour as well if you want a slightly healthier variation.

Adapted from allrecipes.com
Makes one 9"x 13" pan

1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

Preheat your oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Grease a 9"x 13" baking pan.

In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Whisk in the applesauce and egg. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Mix in the walnuts.Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan. Top with the fruit preserves and spread them evenly. Crumble the remaining dough over the fruit preserves.


Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top begins to turn golden. Allow to cool before cutting into bars. Pin It Now!