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!
These have been a go to since I discovered the recipe about a year ago!! Taste healthy and sweet- thanks so much :)
I subbed the whole wheat flour for Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour, finely chopped almonds for walnuts and added 1/4 soy protein powder for a nutritional boost. Turned out great! Tastes like apple crumble minus the apples! Not too sweet but sweet enough. If I made it again I’d be inclined to add some sort of chopped fruit though, because I’m feeling like it’s missing it. Overall great recipe!
OMG YUM. We don’t use soy milk, so I used regular 2%, increased the sugar to 1/2 c and increased the coconut to 1/2 c (I love coconut). So good!
Second batch: used 1/2 milk 1/2 molasses and added gingerbread spices. Double batch takes 35 minutes to bake. 😋
Don’t add extra sugar if you use molasses tho!
I really love these & make them all the time! Make mostly as is, just add extra walnuts & few dark chocolate chips.
Can’t ever go wrong with dark chocolate!
Beth, will this recipe work doubled and baked in a 9×13 pan? I’m thinking so, but wondered if you’d tried it.
Yes it sure will! I’ve doubled it and done it that way a few times.
Awesome! I’m glad you had tried doubling it because I haven’t. Haha!
I came here to ask this exact question so thank you for sharing!
Can you sub oat for for the whole wheat flour?
Unfortunately it’s hard to predict how it would turn out without testing it. Wheat flour and oat flour can sometimes act very differently in recipes.
Do you think you could sub honey for the brown sugar? Thanks! :)
It’s tough to say without testing it. Brown sugar and honey have very different physical properties, so it will likely change the texture of the bar.
Do you need to add the coconut?
You can leave it out. :)
Thank you very much for the delicious recipe! We do not eat sweets for breakfast in Norway, but we use sweets after dinner on weekends, desserts. Many recipes are full of fat and sugar and almost impossible to eat, but this was a good dessert cake.
I made these oat bars today and they were amazing (just eating my second slice now!). I had to make some adjustments to make them ‘school-friendly’ (because of student allergies, nobody is allowed to bring anything with nuts, coconut, or sesame). I used mini chocolate chips (instead of nuts), and the skin of one medium apple, grated and slightly dried in oven (instead of coconut). I used dairy milk but didn’t add any extra sugar as I figured the chocolate chips would be extra sweetness enough. I know chocolate chips aren’t healthy, but I had to add something that would entice my child to eat these homemade bars instead of the packaged ones. I plan on decreasing the amount of chocolate chips and adding some additional grated apple peel (maybe 3-4 apples’ worth) for the next batch. Thanks so much for this easy and adaptable recipe!
Silly question Miss Beth (sorry) but until I go shopping I just have white flour in the house…same measurement?
Well, whole wheat flour does absorb moisture differently than all-purpose, so it may change the texture slightly. It’s hard to guess with this one, though.
These were good but I felt missing something from texture or flavor. Im going to try adding apple chunks or raisins next batch. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks for a tasty treat. I added in raisins as well. Next time I will add more cinnamon because we like the flavour of it.
Tasty! I added a few raisins and next time would increase the coconut. Very nice breakfast+to-go recipe!
For literally decades I have told myself to find the perfect oat breakfast bar recipe but I am sooo lazy about some things. I just keep having other breakfasts even though what I really want is a truly healthy, truly palatable oat bar. Well today was my day, and yours is the first recipe I saw so I made them. They are the answer to my long-procrastinated desire and I want to thank you sooo much. These are amazing. Thank you.