My kids love to have cookies or cereal bars in their lunches or for snacks – what kid doesn’t? Heck, what adult doesn’t? Not many. Even though I don’t purchase a lot, if any, processed boxed cookies or snacks I don’t like depriving my family of baked goods either. If I told them no more cookies ever then I can guarantee there would be secret stashes all over my house. Instead, I try to find easy homemade baked good recipes that resemble or are just as good, if not better, than their processed counterparts.
That is exactly what I found with this Raspberry Walnut Streusel Bar recipe that I adapted from the Weight Watchers One Pot Cookbook. It is a wholesome one made with white whole-wheat flour, walnuts, raspberries, oats, and coconut oil. I like to think of this as a feel good recipe. And it is delicious too. So not only is it much better for you than store bought baked goods it taste even better.
This recipe calls for quick cooking oats. Please note this is different from instant oats or rolled oats – it’s kind of like the in-between oat. The front of the package will say quick cooking oats so look for that when you are picking up ingredients. You could probably use rolled oats but the texture might be a little heartier if you do.
Also, the orginal recipe called for canola oil. I prefer to use coconut oil in my baking recipes. However, If you don’t have coconut oil then just use the same amount of canola or vegetable oil in the recipe.
Experiment using different fruit flavors. You can try blueberry, strawberries, peaches, or whatever you like. You can also switch up the nuts. I think pecans would taste delicious!
My kids loved these Walnut Raspberry Streusel Bars and probably could have eaten the entire pan in one sitting if I let them. My oldest said they tasted like homemade nutrigrain bars and my husband said they tasted even better. So I guess we can say these bars are officially husband and kid approved!
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1 large egg beaten
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup fresh raspberries
- 1 10 ounce jar raspberry fruit spread
- ¼ cup quick-cooking oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.
- Stir in the walnuts.
- Stir in egg and oil, one at a time, and mix until blended.
- Use your hands to mix all the ingredients together until the mixture becomes moist crumbs. Reserve ½ cup of the crumb mixture and set aside.
- Transfer the remaining crumb mixture to a 8 inch baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Press crumb mixture into the pan forming an even layer. Bake the crust until it is lightly browned on the sides, about 10 – 12 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mash the raspberries. Stir in the fruit spread then spread that fruit mixture evenly over the cooked hot crust.
- Mix oats with the remaining streusel mixture and sprinkle over the top of the fruit spread.
- Bake for 20 – 22 minutes or until fruit is bubble and the streusel mixture is brown on top. If you are using a larger 9 inch pan your baking time might be 15 – 20 minutes so just keep an eye on it.
- Let it cool completely then cut into 16 squares.
Jules says
This sounds great! However, I struggle with recipes like this because I have a nut allergy kid. I have found that just leaving out the nuts usually changes the texture too much. Do you have any nut-free suggestions or have you ever tried making these without the nuts?
Thank you for your blog! I find your posts to be so helpful and inspiring!