Fruit Oat Bars

I cringe every time I buy them because they are expensive and full of sugar and additives but my kids love those muesli bars filled with a fruit centre that you buy at the supermarket. So I decided to try and make something at home that would replace them. It had to be cheap, easy, to make, delicious and not full of nasties. This is what I came up with, my kids love them, my easy fruit oat bars!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain wholemeal flour
• 1 cup quick cook oats
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup of your chosen filling

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, sugar and butter til everything is evenly mixed. Press half of your mixture into the base of a lined rectangle baking tin. Spread your chosen filling evenly over the base. Sprinkle remaining half of oat mixture over the top and press down lightly with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven until golden. On my oven this was about 15 minutes at 170C fan forced. After cooling, slice and store in an airtight container with baking paper in between layers.

Filling Options

This is the fun part. You can put whatever you like in your filling. Any stewed fruits I think would taste great, just use what you have – apple, pears, strawberries, blueberries, sultanas, even throw in a few nuts.

For these ones I chopped up apple and pears and stewed them until soft then blended to a smooth puree. I found no need to add anything to this – no vanilla, sugar or cinnamon but you can if you want.

You could even use a jam if you are short on time or prefer something really sweet.

These are gobbled up pretty fast in my household, which is fine because it means I can create a new flavour every week or add something different to the base mixture like maybe some LSA mix. Every week is different and that’s what I love.

What would your favourite filling be?