For the love of oats
I’ve never understood the oatmeal hate out there. I, for one, can’t get enough of the stuff. It’s wholesome, comforting, and right up there with nut butter as perfect running fuel. By food blog standards, my morning oats are pretty boring- just a standard blueberry/banana/raisin combo, with the occasional addition of raw nuts or, rarer still, a scoop of nut butter (I like to douse my oats in almond milk, and wet nut butter kind of skeeves me out).
I really like oatmeal cookies and granola bars, but so many of the store brands are full of added sugars and/or high fructose corn syrup. I was totally excited, then, to run across Kath‘s recipe for Oatmeal Snack Bars this morning. After lunch I headed into the kitchen and whipped up a batch. Changes- the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup dried fruit. All I had on hand were raisins and dates, so I used them. I was out of walnuts, so no nuts were harmed in the making of these bars. We are not big milk drinkers in this house- my milk options were almond milk or half and half (ew). I went with the former, and also subbed 1/2 a well-mashed banana for the egg, one of my favorite veganizing methods and a great way to add an extra kick of sweetness to baked goods. If you’ve never baked with ‘naners before, I recommend using them in recipes that wouln’t be ruined by banana flavor, because you can definitely taste them most of the time. I like bananas a lot so I use them with abandon.
I couldn’t resist snagging one hot out of the oven. They’re interesting- as Kath says, definitely more of a muffin texture. I think these would be great for breakfast with some greek yogurt on top and a drizzle of honey. I would definitely cut some of the salt if I made them again- the pieces with a lot of fruit in them have a nice sweet/salty contrast going on but otherwise I think they’d be too salty. That’s due to the fact that I used table salt instead of kosher salt, so it’s totally my own fault. And it won’t stop me from eating the hell out of the whole batch.
Up close and personal.
