Chewy Fruit and Oatmeal Bars (Breakfast on the Go!)

Peyton&KaylansMama's Note:

I took this out of my latest Easy Home Cooking magazine. It's a Quaker oatmeal recipe. I have been looking for an easy breakfast for my two little ones and this looks like a winner. I think any low fat yogurt would do nicely depending on the fruit you choose. Can't wait to try it!

• Total Time: 43 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 28 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 24

Yield: 24.0 bars

• ¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) container low-fat vanilla yogurt (or plain)
• 2 egg whites , lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons nonfat milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned)
• 1 cup diced dried mixed fruit (or raisins or dried cranberries)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F
2. In large bowl combine sugars, yogurt,egg whites, oil, milk and vanilla; mix well.
3. In medium bowl combine flour baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet mix; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and dried fruit.
6. Spread dough onto bottom of ungreased 13x9 baking pan.
7. Bake 28-32 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool completely on wire rack.
9. Cut into bars.
10. Store tightly covered.

Reviews

[Myntjulep]

Great recipe! The Breakfast on the Go bars have become quite expensive. This is a wonderful substitute! I subbed 1 cup brown sugar and 1 whole egg, otherwise stuck to the recipe. I have also soaked 1 cup of the oatmeal in 1 cup water to make a softer texture, but DH prefers the more dense texture - I think because he can taste the oatmeal more in the softer one!!! When I had no yogurt on hand, I made instant pudding (small box) with 1 cup water (banana cream was all I had) and it worked fine. The only other change I made was to cut into 16 bars instead of 24.

[Riverside Len]

These oat bars make an easy breakfast and a healthy snack. They taste great and are soft and chewy. The recipe claims 24 bars but you are cutting them pretty small to get 24. This is an easy recipe to make.

I make a few changes to suit my tastes. Instead of 1 1/2 cup of AP flour I use 1/2 cup of AP and 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour. Besides the benefits of whole grain it makes a more crumbly bar. Also, I reduce the granulated white sugar by 1/4 cup and reduce the brown sugar by 1/4 cup. The result is still plenty sweet for me. I also up the Cinnamon and vanilla by a bit, this recipe is just a tad bland otherwise (but still good).

You can easily add variety to this recipe by changing the mix of dried fruit. Occasionally I'll add a 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips, which goes very good in this.

I first ran across this recipe on the back of a Quaker Oats box, but alas it isn't there any longer so I'm glad the recipe is posted here. This is an easy and convenient way to include oats in your diet.

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Edit. Recently I've been replacing all the sugar with 1/2 cup real maple syrup. It's just right for me. If you want to do it that way you might want to use a bit more syrup than I use.

[bmcnichol]

We really liked these. I used Splenda instead of sugar, 1 egg instead of 2 egg whites and canola oil instead of vegetable. Followed the rest of the recipe as written. I added one cup of dried blueberries. I'm glad I checked mine while cooking. I set the oven for 28 minutes but checked at 24 minutes and they wer pretty brown. They had a really good taste to them. Just enough sweetness. Will be making them again.