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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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!
Thanks for these! I’ve been making a batch on Sunday evenings and then having them for breakfast all week, replacing my usual Luna bar. Played around with additions a few times. I like replacing the coconut with raisins, and I prefer AP flour to whole wheat. I think next time I might try some pumpkin purée.
Oooooooohhhh my goodness. These were SO GOOD! They’re not very sweet, but they’re exactly what I need/want in the morning without the huge sugar crash later on. My entire (picky) family loved them, and I can absolutely imagine adding dried fruit and such if the mood strikes. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!
Looks delicious! Would these work with quick-oats?
They’ll have less texture, but it might work okay otherwise.
I have these in the oven now, can’t wait to try them. I wanted them to taste like fall, so I subbed pumpkin for butter and added in dried cranberries instead of coconut… also instead of milk I used butter milk because it’s what I had. Oh and I added molasses. I’m excited to try these. I feel like your recipe made a really good blank canvas! thanks
The toddler and I enjoyed these for breakfast this morning. I started eating mine while he was milling around the kitchen and soon he was over near my lap wanting a bite. Then I put him in his high chair and he had a whole one and so did I.
Oh man, these were good, and so filling. I added dried cranberries. Absolutely addictive.
I used chocolate chips instead of coconut and these came out great.
We have an athlete in the house who needs healthy home-baked “power bars” but can’t handle crunchy granola bars b/c of braces. :D These soft bars worked out perfectly for us. Thank you!
This was really tasty and my family loved it! I didn’t have whole wheat flour so I used AP. I am sure the consistency was different, but we loved it anyway. Also didn’t have walnuts and used pecans. I will definitely pick up some wheat flour next time and add flax meal like another commenter did. Thanks!
Mmm, these were really good. I upped the sugar to 1/2 cup, because I wanted something that could also serve as dessert. I didn’t have any walnuts, so I doubled the coconut and used vanilla soymilk. The texture is almost like a bread pudding, moist and chewy. I’d love to experiment with these…nuts, chocolate chips, fresh fruit…pretty much anything would be good in these!
These are yummy!
Oh, I’m headed to the kitchen to make these RIGHT. NOW. ;)
I’m allergic to walnuts so I’m subbing in almonds, and I think I’d love them with raisins.
I’m so glad to have found your blog!
This may be a dumb question, but do you need to refrigerate these? Thanks!
It’s not a stupid question. :) I would, just to be on the safe side. Make sure it’s in an air-tight container to keep them from drying out or absorbing odors. They can also be frozen for longer storage.
Thank you, Beth!
Hi, what temperature will I bake this in degrees centigrade?
A quick google search tells me it’s 190 degrees celsius.
Do you think almond milk would be ok to use?
Just read a comment below about almond milk! Perfect :)
Hi Beth,
Congrats on this great blog, I love it!. I just did this bars and they are so soft and healthy. I added some honey and it was great too.