The first thing I saw when I turned on the TV today was a commercial for some sort of breakfast-oat-cookie-thing. I wanted one. So, I made some. Except mine are more like soft oat and nut bars instead of cookies.
I have made baked oatmeals, granola, and granola bar-like things before, but this time I wanted to create something soft and almost cake-like. The texture of these bars is somewhere between a soft oatmeal cookie and a piece of cake. They have all the goodness of oats and whole wheat flour, plus tons of nutty goodness, all of which makes them surprisingly filling.
Unlike cake or cookies, I didn’t make these soft oat and nut bars very sweet. They have just a hint of sweetness from the brown sugar and sweetened shredded coconut, but they’re definitely not dessert-like. You could easily add more sugar to make them into a sort-of-healthy type dessert or even add some dried fruit for extra sweetness. I happened to use plain soy milk to make these bars because that’s all I had in my fridge at the moment. You could definitely use dairy milk, although I think it’s slightly less sweet than soy milk, so you may want to add an extra tablespoon of sugar if you do so.
So, if you need breakfast on the go, try making these deliciously Soft Oat & Nut Bars to take with you on the road!
Soft Oat and Nut Bars
Servings 9Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats ($0.30)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour ($0.38)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.09)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar ($0.11)
- 1/4 cup room temperature butter ($0.58)
- 1 large egg ($0.17)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.28)
- 1 cup plain or vanilla soy milk ($0.41)
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts ($0.88)
- 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut ($0.26)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until well combined.
- In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar and butter until the mixture is light and creamy (about 2 minutes, medium speed). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until light and creamy again (30 seconds to one minute).
- Add half of the oat and flour mixture and beat briefly, just until combined. Start on low speed to prevent the flour from flying out of the bowl.
- Add the soy milk and beat briefly again until smooth. Always start on low speed to prevent splashing. Add the rest of the flour and oat mixture, and beat until combined (only about 30 seconds).
- Add the chopped walnuts and coconut. Stir them into the batter. Pour the batter into a 9×9 inch greased casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow the bars to cool and then cut into 9 pieces. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 5-6 days, or freeze for extended storage.
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Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Oat Bars – Step by Step Photos
First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until well combined.
In a larger bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and creamy. Then, add the egg and vanilla (pictured) and beat again until creamy.
See how light, creamy, and whipped it looks after the egg and vanilla have been mixed in? The tiny bits of trapped air will help the end product be light and cake-like.
Add half of the flour and oat mixture. Beat them briefly, only about 30 seconds, until they are mixed together. Always start on low speed so that you don’t get a sudden cloud of flour spraying up in your face.
Add the milk and beat briefly again… (you REALLY want to start on low speeds with liquids)
Add the rest of the flour and oat mixture. Beat it again briefly until they are combined.
Finally, stir in the chopped walnuts and coconut.
Pour the batter into a 9×9 inch greased casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes.
Allow the bars to cool and then cut them into 9 equal sized pieces.
And then enjoy the heck out of them!
Made these with olive oil because butter is pretty expensive where I live and they turned out pretty good. These are so filling in the morning, will surely make this recipe again.
Hi Beth,
Can I sub the butter with coconut oil? Also maybe use a GF flour? I’m trying to make it vegan
You can definitely sub coconut oil for the butter, but I’ve never cooked with gluten free flour, so I’m not sure how that would affect it. :P
Thanks for this delicious recipe! I added a bit more nutrition by reducing the oats and whole wheat flour by 1/4 cup each, then adding 1/4 cup of teff flour and 1/4 cup of flax meal. I used 2/3 cup applesauce and 1/3 apple cider instead of the soy milk. I added 1 shredded carrot, about 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and used 1/3 cup raisins instead of coconut. These were plenty sweet and a wonderful dessert!
Hey Beth! HUGE fan of your food. Seriously I make 2-3 different recipes per week & have yet to find one I don’t LOVE. (Ill be at the bookstore on the 4th to grab your cookbook…cant wait!!) Question though, do you think coconut oil would work in place of the Butter? I’m not a huge dairy kid but these look amazing. Keep it up girl, you got talent.
I do think that would work. They have a very similar consistency (solid at room temp), so I think they are easily swapped. Butter has a higher water content, but that shouldn’t be a problem here.
We liked this recipe. Not too sweet, so much helathier than store bought granola bars. One batch was good for the whole week.
thank you
Hi Beth,
Just found your website/blog, and really like it. :) I like the slant towards economy and health. I like your adventurous mind-set that allows for substitutions and creativity, and just using whatever you have on hand. Personally, I think that’s what makes a good cook and what I strive for. That said, sometimes it works out, sometimes not. So if you ever see an error in my thought process, please feel free to enlighten me!
I also really appreciate the time you take to document the process. Although I know how to cook, this is very helpful, and immeasureably helpful those just learning. And your pictures look so yummy!! So, thank you!
So far I’ve tried the Thai Peanut Sauce and also the Rice Veg Salad with Thai Sauce. I just made the bars above this morning with the following substitutions: used apple/peach sauce in place of butter (usually substitute for oil in a recipe, but figured this was about the same thing), added some date chips, used almonds instead of walnuts, and used 2% milk for soy.
Result: I’m sure they are denser than yours, but still good. Could have been a little sweeter for my taste, but I was concerned about making them too sweet (with the applesauce, coconut and date chips). For those that want just a touch of sweetness, it was perfect.
Anyway, thanks for the work you do. It’s great! I’m now trying to decide what to make for a weekend get-away in the mountains. :) Lisa
These are delicious! I left out the nuts and coconut, added chocolate chips and subbed plain almond milk for the soy milk. Seriously good!
Also, I’m using an oval shaped pan because I don’t have a 9 x 9. Do you think they would turn out ok in a 9 x 13 with a shorter cook time? Thanks!!!!
I bake this in a 9×13 with no problem, reduce the time by only a minute or two because the bars are still pretty thick!
Thanks!!
So excited for this recipe. My 14 y/o requested I make these after having the store bought ones at a friends. Schools starting and she leaves home at 8am with no lunch till 1:40, these are perfect for taking along and eating between class to keep her going.
These were delicious! Perfect to grab on my way to work. The batch I made has been lasting me all week. SO happy I found a replacement to gross store bought granola bars. They are nice and filling too and seem pretty healthy.
I don’t have an electric mixer so I beat everything by hand but it was still easy and came out good. Also used white flour instead of wheat because that’s what I had.
Beth, could you replace the sugar with maple syrup or honey? If so, what amount would you suggest?
Tara, I’m sure you could sub those in, although I can only guess at the amount without trying it first. I think I would start with 1/4 cup because they may be slightly sweeter and you don’t want to add too much more moisture to the batter. Hopefully that will work out for you!
Thanks so much! Oops, one more question. :) Can i use regular ole dairy milk or does it really need to be almond milk? What about coconut milk?
Hmm, well, I haven’t ever cooked with coconut milk, so I don’t know if it acts similarly to the others or not. I think trying it is the only way we’ll know! :) If you do, please let me know how it turned out.
NEVERMIND! I just saw the answer to this under “Notes.” But what do you think about the coconut milk possibility?
Beth, could you replace the sugar with maple syrup or honey? If so, what amount would you suggest?
Does anyone have a suggestion for this? To replace sugar with honey or Maple syrup? I sure would appreciate it!
Sorry it took me so long to answer, see my reply to your first comment :)
Love your recipes and blog. Also love your readers/commenters – such a practical group. I saw this and thought, “well, I don’t have coconut but maybe it would work …”. Several people had already provided the reassurance I needed, and confirmed for me that this would be a good place to use up the extra dried cranberries I do have. Thanks!!!
So I ended up making two batches of these yesterday, and they are awesome! First batch was dried apple and cinnamon, and the second batch was peach nutmeg (I’m going on holidays and I needed to use up the peaches in the fridge).
Unfortunately, my 14 year old had used all the eggs and not said anything to me, so I had to use a mashed banana for the 2nd batch – tasty, but should have baked a bit longer. These are so easy! I can easily see them becoming a staple in our house.
These were good and even better for breakfast on the go. I substituted raisins and almonds because that’s what I had on hand. I put a little cream cheese on top this am too -yummy-
I made these last night–so good! Next time I think I’ll add some chopped apple too. Yum!