Dear friends, welcome back! Today I have some strawberry bars for you made with an oatmeal crust and fresh strawberries. A recipe I reworked from an 80s magazine recipe (Francesca!! It’s the recipe you gave me!! π).
The first time I tried it, I followed the recipe to the letter, but I was only half satisfied. First, because my bars didn’t match the photo in the magazine (something I think is sometimes due to ingredient errors), but mostly because they were too sweet and too buttery. All normal, because the excess of fats and sugars is often present in recipes from a few decades ago.
So I tried the recipe again, making modifications (less butter and sugar), then I repeated it adding baking powder (maybe that was the assumed mistake?), then trying it with milk, then yogurt and also soy milk, then using oil instead of butter…. in short, I had fun trying various variations, always with the intent to make the crust of these strawberry bars as light as possible.
(That is: light enough to participate today in the Light and Tasty column that today pays homage to strawberries ππ).
But maintaining some characteristics of this crust unchanged, namely: the presence of oatmeal, the absence of eggs, and the crumbly texture.
What do you say, would you like to try this recipe? Yesssss !!! π
γ° γ° γ°
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour 1 (or 0)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup corn oil
- 3 tbsp plant-based milk (or water)
- 1 cup strawberries
- 2 tbsp jam (strawberry, lemon or citrus)
- 1 tsp baking powder (level)
- to taste lemon zest (grated)
Tools
- Chopper Ariete Choppy
- Oven Sfornatutto DeLonghi
Instructions
Briefly blend the oatmeal with a chopper or a mini food processor to reduce them to coarse crumbs.
Combine the flour, baking powder, oil, and sugar.
Add the milk (I used vanilla soy milk, but water or regular milk is also fine if there are no vegan needs).
π The use of water or milk is a trick to add the necessary liquid part without using more oil.
Flavor with the grated zest of half a lemon.
Work the mixture by rubbing it between your palms until you get a sandy consistency (or like breadcrumbs).
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and distribute two-thirds of the crumbly mixture on it.
Compact it well with your hands.
Wash and cut the strawberries into pieces.
Mix the strawberries with the jam (strawberry, but any flavor is fine, I tried both lemon and mixed citrus).
Spread the strawberries over the crust base – or rather the compacted crumbs – then cover everything with the remaining crumbs.
Bake in the oven at 350Β°F for 20 minutes (or a few minutes more depending on the thickness you decided for the crumb base).
Let cool, then cut into bars or larger slices (in this photo they look like pizza slices! π).
Some info, notes, and tips:
π The strawberries turn into a delicious chunky jam. π
π The consistency of this crust is (obviously) crumbly. Increasing the liquid part (water or milk, but also possibly yogurt) makes the dough softer and less crumbly, both before and after baking.
β By avoiding the addition of liquids (i.e., water or milk), or reducing the oil (I tried with only 1/4 cup of oil) you get an even lighter crumbly mixture that can be used as a crumble.
π Baking powder is optional.
π As with all crusts, you can of course use butter instead of oil.
β The original magazine recipe called for chilling in the fridge. I tried, but personally, I prefer these strawberry bars at room temperature, the crust doesn’t seem to benefit from being served cold from the fridge.
In the following photo, one of the many versions I tried (in this case with kefir). Here I also made a small modification by decorating the edge with apple slices. Variations are my passion!
I wish you a good snack! π
And now take a look at the recipes from my colleagues at the Light and Tasty column, all strawberry recipes!
Daniela: Strawberry Crumble
Elena: Roll with yogurt cream, strawberries, and coconut
Franca: Strawberry and rose ice cream
Milena: Strawberry and balsamic vinegar jam for cheeses
Serena: Fruit cake
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